Goodbye Mist
by SerendipitousPixel
Summary: What happens when the barrier between the Mortal world and Mythological world breaks? (Slight Percabeth) WARNING: May Contain Clichés
1. Chapter 1

**I am woefully naïve about how works from the perspective of authors (yes, this is my first fanfiction), so please help me as I muddle along…  
Reviews are very much appreciated, even one-word ones.  
I am from the UK; sorry if my American geography and culture knowledge isn't great. I will be using British spelling as well.  
Disclaimer: In case you hadn't realised from the name of this website, this is **_**fanfiction**_ **and I do not own Percy Jackson or any other series that sneak into this story. For one thing, I'm not a middle-aged American man.  
~Set after PJO and HoO~**

* * *

 _Prologue - The Beginning:_

It all started when I woke up on Monday morning: My mum came rushing in, running a hand through her hair like she does when she's stressed. There was nothing strange about that – no, what was strange was that Paul rushed in right after her. Paul rarely visited my room in the mornings – it was my Mum's job to be my replacement alarm clock and get me up; he was always too busy getting ready for school.  
'Percy,' he began seriously, perching awkwardly on top of my bedside table. 'Have you seen the news?'  
I bit back the _Of course I haven't! I only just woke up!_ retort which sprang to my lips and shook my head, perplexed.  
'I think you should.' he said enigmatically and left the room. My morning brain didn't want hints and advice – it wanted answers. Well, it didn't want any problems at all, but straight and simple answers were next best.

A few minutes later, I stumbled along the corridor towards the living room and sprawled onto a sofa as the TV blared (I know monsters are attracted to phones and stuff because they send out signals, but Annabeth said that as TVs pick up rather than transmit signals, it's okay. And anyway, would you really expect me to stumble around clueless all the time about the goings on of the Mortal world? Actually, don't answer that). Anyway, I sat down and began to watch the news.

A glamorous news-reporter wearing too much fake-tan sat down at the desk and began to speak, wringing her hands agitatedly.  
'This morning, the world as we know it has changed,' she began dramatically. I sat up slightly with interest as she carried on.  
'Things that have been hidden to us for years have been revealed.' I began to feel uneasy; either she was a member of a barmy cult or something was seriously wrong.  
'The first reports came in at approximately 3:50 this morning, EST, and told of strange sightings: a farmer from Arizona told us about a massive junkyard appearing in the local desert, while in LA, several new buildings have been noticed – a derelict 'Crusty's Waterbeds' along with the elusive 'DOA Recording studio'.' I gasped inwardly, these names all familiar to me: 'Crusty's waterbeds' was where Procrustes from our first quest had attacked, and the DOA recording studios was the entrance to Hades. The junkyard could well have been where we'd lost Bianca. All these pointed to one thing – the Mist failing. That thought alone was so ludicrous that I turned back to the reporter.  
'-and in New York City, perhaps some of the strangest sightings have been reported: a massive city has been detected hovering over the Empire State building, which some claim is a sign of first-contact with aliens. Not only this, a mysterious camp has been discovered on Long Island with orange-clothed teens wielding dangerous weapons within. Experts have said that this camp may be related to the one found in the San Francisco bay area, and could be evidence of a dangerous cult. Also in New York City, a mansion has appeared on top of a disused factory in Brooklyn, with children seen entering and exiting.  
'However, this is not just contained to America– reports from as far away as the United Kingdom tell of a triple-deckered purple bus appearing, driving erratically and disappearing before any inspections can be taken, dubbed the 'Ghost bus' or 'Night bus', this is certainly the most dangerous development for ordinary civilians. Now, to other news, Romney and Obama-'

My mind was numb. I was in denial. How could this happen? Why was this happening? You'd think that after two wars, a guy could just have a normal year, but apparently not. The Mist had officially disappeared. In my mind, I could imagine Annabeth correcting me and pointing out that there was no proof that the Mist had disappeared – it could just be that all humans had become immune, or it was a big joke, or it was down for maintenance- No, none of those were possible either.

I wondered vaguely whether this was all a big, very detailed dream but after several pinches I concluded that no, this was really happening. I sat there for a bit, still in denial.

In the end, I pulled myself together, realised that Paul had already left for Goode and that my mum had gone to a job interview, and wandered into the kitchen. I was planning on Iris-messaging Chiron when one fizzled into existence already.

Annabeth's blonde curls swam into view, along with a very worried face.  
"Percy," she began uncertainly "What is happening?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews last chapter; they made my day! I'll be updating quite randomly (my excuse is too much homework) but I'll try to do it at least once a fortnight. I have no beta, so sorry for any mistakes.  
Disclaimer: See previous chapter… I am not rich or famous and I have not published 20+ books. Therefore, I am not Rick Riordan.  
Now all that remains for me to say is – Enjoy!**

 _Chapter 2 - I try to travel stealthily_

 _Annabeth's blonde curls swam into view, along with a very worried face.  
"Percy," she began uncertainly "What is happening?"_

'Well, it seems like, well, that the…-' I trailed off uncertainly, hesitant to claim that the Mist, an invincible and ancient barrier, would have just disappeared.

'The Mist has vanished?' Annabeth prompted with a hint of a smile.

'Well yeah, but, the Mist can't just go on holiday. Hecate has power over it, but even if she's gone rouge or something, I don't think that even she could destroy it.' I said, my worries that had accumulated over the past few minutes pouring out. 'What about your end?'

'Not so good. Mortals have been gathering – they can't seem to get in but some of them are filming us. Chiron has told us to stay indoors as much as possible. Clarisse isn't happy – none of the Ares kids are. They think it's shying away from an inevitable fight. But anyway, I didn't IM to complain about the egomaniacs in Cabin Five…' she trailed off.

'I don't mind.' I began, but Annabeth didn't seem to be in the mood for a sentimental conversation; she cut in with:

'Percy, what I really called you about was to ask if you can come to camp. It's not that I believe that you can single-handedly save us or anything, Seaweed Brain, so don't get any ideas. I just… all the mortals must be sending up a huge signal to the monsters with their phones and stuff right outside of our camp-'

'And you're worried about a mass monster attack?' I finished for her.

'Well yes, and every little helps. What with Frank and Hazel at Camp Jupiter, and most campers away for school, there're only about sixty of us. And if the mortals manage to enter camp somehow- I want you here, Seaweed Brain.' Finally Annabeth seemed to have got to the point she was IM-ing about.

'Sure,' I agreed. After all, I wasn't exactly going to go to school after all this. 'I'll call Blackjack and-'

'Don't come in directly.' interrupted Annabeth. 'Come around by the woods, rather than Thalia's tree – the mortals won't see you then.' I nodded appreciatively – that hadn't occurred to me – and swiped through the connection after a quick 'Love you! Bye!'

The rainbow fizzled out and I was left alone in the apartment. Other than the constant sound of New York traffic, I was in complete silence. I wasn't bothered by this – I'm often alone – but it highlighted how alone we all were, faced with completely unpredicted and unprecedented circumstances. At times like this, I almost wish that I were just an ordinary mortal.

I shook myself out of wallowing in self pity, and set to work: packing an overnight bag, leaving a note to Mum explaining where I'd gone, and calling Blackjack with a piercing taxi-cab whistle.

Soon enough, Blackjack arrived with his usual _Yo boss!._ I opened the door onto the fire-escape and joined him on the narrow balcony. Fortunately, nobody was looking.

'Don't call me boss, Blackjack.' I reminded him, although as usual he ignored me. 'Can you take me to Camp? Via the woods? We can't let the Mortals see us.'

 _Sure thing, boss._ He agreed, and we set off, flying above the clouds (I was glad Zeus didn't blast me out of the sky, as I was so high in his domain).

We managed to sneak into Camp Half Blood with little trouble, and as I parted with Blackjack at the stables, I took a moment to look around - the valley of Camp Half Blood was as beautiful and peaceful as ever. I wondered how long it would remain that way, as I caught sight of the ring of Mortals (some bearing cameras like Annabeth had warned) surrounding camp.

I also noticed Peleus, wrapped protectively around the Golden Fleece on Thalia's pine. Every few seconds, he would growl and snort fire. Whenever he did so, the Mortals all backed away from him, their eyes fixed on his flaming nostrils; they seemed to completely forget the camp spread below them.

Deciding to utilise this, I formulated a plan that Annabeth would (probably) be proud of – it basically involved charging to the cluster of cabins every time Peleus distracted the Mortals. If I didn't reach them in time, I'd just improvise (read: duck behind the nearest tree or pretend to be a bush).

Soon enough, I found myself in front of Cabin 6's door. The owl on top seemed to look at me suspiciously, so I decided to enter as fast as possible. I was greeted by about six pairs of eyes, and it occurred to me that Annabeth wasn't going to have been alone in her cabin.

'Um… hi Percy.' Malcolm began awkwardly. He was pretty much the only Athena camper other than Annabeth that I'd ever spoken to.

'Hey,' I replied, embarrassed, 'Is Annabeth here?'

'No, she's at the Big House with Chiron. All the counsellors are.' He said, directing me towards the door.

'OK, thanks. Have you guys managed to figure out what's going on yet?' I added as an afterthought as I exited the cabin.

'No.' Malcolm admitted dully. He gestured to the books surrounding them 'We've not found anything like it yet, and the gods are too busy to help.' He shut the door and I continued my bizarre method of transport (run, freeze, pretend to be a statue, repeat) towards the Big House. For all I looked stupid, at least it worked and I eventually arrived at the Big House's porch.

I entered the Recreation Room slightly more cautiously; I had learned my lesson from entering the Athena cabin. I was greeted by the sight of all seventeen of the cabin counsellors, minus Jason, crowded around the ping-pong table.

'Percy,' Chiron greeted. 'Why aren't you at school?'

I made to answer but he merely replied 'Don't worry, sit down anyway. We were just discussing the…ah… _problem_.'

 **A/N: I may have eaten too much chocolate half-way through writing this chapter, so sorry if the characters suddenly seem OOC. I'm planning on introducing the ultimate cliché next chapter (where the demigods end up going to school, despite sense), so please review if you are violently opposed and I may reconsider…  
Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: Even now, I don't get out of school_

 **A/N: Once again, thank you so much for your reviews!  
Note: I've tried to incorporate as many counsellors as possible in this chapter, but let's just pretend that Jason and Piper and Nico have gone off on holiday or something.  
Disclaimer: I have a full head of hair, and no it's not grey. Therefore, I am not Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson series (and all spin offs) do not belong to me. **

I slid into the seat beside Annabeth and gestured for Chiron to continue as if I hadn't just appeared out of the ether of truancy (and yes, I can be poetic).

'To catch up Percy here, we have been discussing the possible reasons for the Mist being rendered… inactive.' Chiron said the phrase clumsily, as if it were to strange for him to believe.

'In other words, we were pestering Lou Ellen about Hecate.' Katie Gardner of the Demeter cabin paraphrased. I caught Lou Ellen nodding emphatically, and stifled a grin.

'Which brings us back to the subject of Hecate.' Clarisse interjected. 'Are you sure she hasn't gone off to join the Oh-no-Gaea-was-beaten-let's-try-to-overthrow-the-gods-all-over-again society?'

Lou Ellen's face flushed with anger as she retorted: 'Well, boar-brain, I don't know if you noticed, but Hecate was fighting _against_ Gaea last war. Maybe it's too much for you to comprehend, you-'

'Hey! Who are you calling boar-brain you wifty-wafty cheat? At least I don't-'

The argument probably would have escalated if Annabeth, who had been uncharacteristically quiet up until now, interrupted.

'I don't think we came here to insult each other, or our parents.' She began, deflecting a ping-pong ball aimed at her from the Nemesis counsellor, who had been enjoying the fight. She turned to me, and asked 'Percy, you've been in the Mortal world recently… What exactly were they saying?'

The counsellors' eyes swivelled towards me once again and I tried desperately to remember what had been on the news this morning. 'Um, well, there was something about the junkyard of the gods in Arizona, and the DOA recording studios, and Olympus, and a strange bus thingy…' I trailed off, trying to remember anything other than the reporter's unhealthy amount of fake tan. 'well, the camps of course… Pretty much everything concealed by the Mist I guess.'

'A bus thingy? Do you mean one of the Delphi Strawberry buses?' asked Will Solace.

'But they're just normal buses.' Jake Mason, who had been fiddling with sort of metal contraption all meeting, commented.

'That's off topic.' Annabeth interjected and the discussion trailed off. Those who had been paying attention stared into space or fiddled; Lou Ellen was playing with some sort of dagger thing, and Clovis just slumped down on the table and fell asleep again.

'Well, what can we actually do?' asked Connor Stoll, speaking with unexpected amounts of maturity.

'A quest?' suggested Castor.

'For what? We don't even have a working Oracle.' the Nemesis counsellor (I'd forgotten their name for now) asked.

'To go on a magical holiday with unicorns and rainbows.' Clarisse began sarcastically. 'What do you think, dumbo? To find Hecate and get her to restore the Mist.'

'The Mist isn't down.' announced Lou Ellen, speaking up from her sullen silence.

* * *

'What!?' I asked, before anyone else could. I had felt kind of out of the discussion beforehand, and wanted to at least contribute something.'

'It's not down.' Lou Ellen repeated slowly, as if explaining that 1 plus 1 is 2.

'And you didn't tell us before, because?' asked Annabeth, turning her attention to Lou Ellen.

'I only just discovered myself.' There were sceptical murmurs; Lou Ellen continued, 'When we all started to talk about bus-thingies.' She eyed me critically. 'I lost interest. Blame the ADHD if you want. Anyway, I was just playing about with the Mist – a subconscious habit. I only noticed something was up when I had formed a dagger out of Mist. Now, if the Mist was down there would have been no dagger. Therefore, the Mist is not down.'

'Then how do the Mortals know about this? It's not like seven billion Mortals inexplicably became clear-sighted sometime over night.'

'I don't think talking about this for any longer will further our knowledge on what to do about the situation.' Chiron announced from his corner.'

'Then what do you propose we do, Chiron?' asked Annabeth. For a moment, she looked like the vulnerable seven year-old she had once been. 'We're faced with unknown and unprecedented circumstances.'

Dionysus decided that then would be a fitting time to grace us with his presence. He sauntered in, clad in his usual obnoxious purple gear, and sat down luxuriously on the most comfortable chair in the room. Getting out a wine magazine, he started flipping through the pages infuriatingly loudly.

'Ah, Mr D.' Chiron began after an awkward silence punctuated by the camp director's page-turning. 'Are you… aware… of the situation?'

'Yes, yes.' He began impatiently. 'Go off on one of your annoying little quests. Try not to die, though – my dear father would give me lots of irritating paperwork.' the sky rumbled with thunder faintly.

'Perhaps Mr D. is right.' Chiron mused after another pregnant pause.

'Of course I'm right. I'm a god.' Dionysus said with an amount of narcissism which would be funny in any other person.

'What!?' several people exclaimed.

'But if the Mist's not down, then what good would a quest do? What would we be looking for?' pointed out Butch. There were several nods and murmurs of agreement – none of us were keen to go on yet another quest, after life had been settling down.

'Well, not a quest as such…' Chiron began. 'I propose that you - some of you, that is- go off to school.'

' _What!?_ '

 **A/N: I apologise for the shoddy and lengthy writing…My excuse is a tough week at school**


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4 – He was actually serious about it_

 **A/N: Here's another chapter before I go off to Berlin for a week…  
Sorry if I avoid the biggest clichés you were expecting this chapter, even I can't manage them  
Disclaimer: I am utterly clueless about American schools. Therefore, I am not Rick Riordan, and I do not own any of these characters.**

' _Well, not a quest as such…' Chiron began. 'I propose that you - some of you, that is- go off to school.'_

'What _!?'_

Chiron repeated it again, in case our 'what?' was due to mishearing. He got the same response as before.

'Well, why not?' he asked, looking at us.

'Just to clarify…' Lou Ellen began, speaking slowly as if unsure of the camp director's sanity, 'the Mortals can see everything about our world – we've been exposed – and are faced with an unprecedented crisis… and your telling us that we have to go to _school_?'

'Yes.' Chiron agreed.

Annabeth seemed to have been mulling the idea over. 'I see Chiron's point.' she said, drawing cries of incredulity from the other counsellors.

'Which is….' I prompted, after she didn't elaborate.

'We're faced with an 'unprecedented crisis', as Lou Ellen puts it. In other words, we have no idea what in Hades is going on. We can't research it because it's never happened before. The only way we can figure out what is going on is by going out into the world and searching for ourselves. School is a perfect way to do it.'

'Trust the daughter of Athena to tell us to get an education in the middle of the apocalypse.' Clarisse snorted.

I changed the subject hastily before Annabeth could retort. 'Isn't that the job of the satyrs? I mean, I'm sure Grover would go if he were here?'

Annabeth sighed again. 'Percy, there is no Mist. The satyrs would get found out in hours and get treated like freaks. With the Mist, they could pretty much get away with it, avoiding PE lessons and stuff. But now…'

'Oh.'

'Now that's clarified, who's going to go? Any more than three people will attract attention.' Chiron said.

'I will.' Annabeth said immediately. I noticed Clarisse rolling her eyes at Annabeth's enthusiasm to be going to school.

'Me too, then.' I volunteered. For one thing, I didn't want to send Annabeth off on her own – call it hero complex, but I felt like I had to go on this quest. For another, my mum and Paul were going to be pretty worried when they returned from work, only to find I'd disappeared; at least by going to school I'd stop them from panicking.

There was a small pause while no-one else volunteered; there was one space left and most of them had somebody at camp they didn't want to leave.

'I'll go.' announced a younger boy, stepping out from the shadows.

'Nico?' I asked, although it was kind of pointless; who else would randomly appear from a shadow?

'Hey.' he said wearily.

'How long have you been here?' asked Chiron, smiling despite himself.

'A couple of minutes.' The boy admitted. 'I figured that there would be an emergency conference, and that it would be the best way to figure out what was going on. The one at Camp Jupiter, for all its formalities, didn't seem to be getting anywhere, so I came here.'

'It's great that you've volunteered Nico-' Annabeth began hesitantly, 'only, you're only thirteen and we're planning on going to high school.'

'I'm nearly fourteen.' He grumbled, then added 'Don't worry about me. My father had decided it was time for me to be getting a proper education anyway. At least this way I can learn Algebra feeling like I'm doing something worthwhile. Speaking of high school, I didn't hear you decide where you're planning on going.'

'Goode.' I said immediately. 'Paul can help arrange it. Besides, I'm already going there. It'll be easier.'

And that was how we ended up outside Goode high school the next morning, having spent the night at my apartment (Annabeth in the spare room and Nico on the sofa).

* * *

'Well, are we going to go in?' Nico prompted.

'Yeah sure.' I agreed half-heartedly as I lead them to the office.

We managed to collect their schedules (Annabeth had the same as me, while Nico was pretending to be a freshman) and ended up in homeroom only slightly late.

There were stares and whispers, especially from the popular clique sitting in the back row.

I imagined their conversation went something like this:

 _Hey, have you seen that girl with that hot Jackson kid? – girl #1_ (OK, maybe not the hot part)

 _Yeah, apparently she's an 'exchange' student – girl #2_

 _Online girlfriend, more like. She'll probably leave as soon as she sees how ugly Jackson is. – girl #1, giggling_

 _The girl's kind of hot, though – guy #1_

 _Girl #1 glares at guy #1_

OK, it probably went nothing like that, but before I had time to refine my imaginary conversation, Mrs Ross – our teacher who was pretty much as evil as a teacher could get before I suspected them to be a monster – stalked in, clutching a newspaper.

'Good morning, class.' She barked.

'Good morning, Mrs Ross.' We all replied dully.

She proceeded to lecture us on subjects ranging from tardiness to the deteriorating standards of politeness in today's youth, before we were saved by the bell.

The rest of the morning classes (Spanish, Geography and Social Studies) passed in the same fashion – I dozed, vaguely paying attention now and again, while Annabeth took diligent notes between sending me disapproving glances.

It was at lunchtime that something vaguely different happened: as I was sitting down with Annabeth and a disgruntled Nico (he'd apparently received a detention for 'threatening looks at members of the faculty'), a voice from across the cafeteria yelled:

'Percy Jackson? Where exactly were you yesterday?'

Before I had the time to curse, everyone was looking at me suspiciously.

 **A/N: Sorry for the limp ending, I did this within an hour and I'm pretty hungry.  
Just a reminder that reviews are very welcome… even if you just say something random like 'cookies', it makes my day.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5 – Epiwhat?_

 **A/N: Another chapter… For all the promises of clichés, I've managed to veer away from some of them here (I don't know if I should apologise or not, but to uphold the British stereotype, sorry anyway).  
An OC or two may be introduced here to flesh out the cast… Don't worry, none of them will mysteriously turn out to be Percy's twin sister (or Nico's secret triplet).  
Disclaimer: Do I look like I have an adult son? Hence, I am not Rick Riordan and don't own any of this.**

' _Percy Jackson? Where exactly were you yesterday?'_

 _Before I had the time to curse, everyone was looking at me suspiciously._

Now let me explain: I wouldn't usually react in this way – and neither would the rest of my school – only I _had_ just missed about a year of school, so people were bound to get suspicious if I 'ditched'. The teachers were beginning to notice how all of the students' heads were turned inexplicably towards me, so I plastered a sort-of-fake smile on my face and walked to the source of the voice, Annabeth and Nico following me.

It was Benjamin Clapperton (known to me as Ben, known to the rest of the school as 'Happy clappy'), the closest person I had to a friend here. We were both social outcasts – him due to his enthusiasm, intelligence and general 'nerdiness' and me due to, well, missing an entire year of school. The rumour was that I had gone to jail, and even the 'bad boys' (you know, the guys that try and be all adult by smoking weed around the back of the school) avoided me.

'Jeez, can you turn down the deci-thingies?' I asked, trying to remember the scale of volume in an attempt to speak science language, as I sat down; Annabeth sat next to me while Nico skulked in a corner.

'Decibels?' he asked, complying so that only half the cafeteria could hear him, rather than all of it.

'Yeah, that's the one.' I agreed, my mind already occupied with worries about the Mist again.

It was only when he cleared his throat slightly that I realised that, quite possibly for the first time this year, Ben was sitting next to somebody that wasn't me.

'This is – uh- Rufus.' He began, indicating the boy next to him. 'D'you know him?'

'Uh… not well.' Was my reply; we all knew of him – the only junior whose voice was still breaking – but I'd never learned his name. I chuckled to myself as the Latin translation popped into my head – Rufus meant red, but this boy was as pasty as flour (I know I'm not a poet, but that doesn't mean I can't at least try to use a simile).

'-and well, his dad is a geneticist too – what a coincidence, huh? – so we decided to do the project together and that meant that we sat together at lunch, and that's pretty much it. You're OK with it, right?' It was only as he asked this question that I realised he had been talking to me.

'Yeah, sure.' I agreed, my mind still a hundred miles away. Then, pulling myself together, I asked Rufus, 'so what sort of genetics does your dad do?'

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but Rufus seemed eager to answer:

'Well he mainly focuses on epigenetics.' he started at top speed.

Ben must have sensed my confusion because he interrupted with 'epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself', which didn't really help at all.

'-he's been developing a drug to remove methyl tags to try and prevent some hereditary diseases caused from the tags of ancestors that have been passed down… I mean, it's a very new and experimental science, so it can be-' I stopped processing his words around then, and left Annabeth to discuss complicated science stuff with them.

As I left their table, most of the students' eyes swivelled up and followed me out of the door – their obsession with my actions was irritating to say the least, but I can't say I wasn't used to unwanted attention.

It turns out that I left the cafeteria not a moment too soon – I was halfway to my locker when an Iris message fizzled into existence in front of me: Grover's face coming into focus a second later.

Ducking into the nearest bathroom for privacy (the Iris-message followed me, bobbing along like a persistent dog or something), I greeted my friend with a 'Hey, G-man. I didn't realise you were at camp.'

'Yeah… There was a meeting of the Cloven Elders to discuss how-, well you wouldn't know about it, would you?'

'Know about what?'

Grover looked at me seriously, and it struck me how much he had grown up since I had met him the first time (was it really only five years ago?). 'The gods, we've finally heard from them about the Mist.'

'Oh?' I prompted.

'Well, they're not really helping much… the only idea they've had – they say to help us, but I think Zeus needed to boost his ego a bit more – is to well…' I may not be that perceptive, but even I could tell that Grover was stalling.

'To well what?' I repeated, urging him to finish.

Grover said the next sentence in a rush but I caught every word in a state of disbelief (bordering on horror): 'Zeus has announced that the Olympians are considering coming out to the public… revealing our world to the Mortals.'

'I'm sorry… _What?_ '

 **A/N: Sorry if I got the science stuff wrong, I haven't actually learned any of this yet at school, but credit goes to Google for giving me (probably wrong) information about all of this.  
Hope you enjoyed this!  
Do review (even those of you who like writing random things like 'Ikea' and 'cookies' ;-D)… I really appreciate it.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6 –Zeus' Ego_

 **A/N: Another chapter. Please read, enjoy (or not) and send feedback – it's really useful for me as an author to know that people are actually reading this attempt at a fanfiction.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm running out of inventive ways to say this… but in case you haven't gathered yet, I am not Rick Riordan and I don't own any of this.**

' _Zeus has announced that the Olympians are considering coming out to the public… revealing our world to the Mortals.'_

' _I'm sorry… What?'_

'I mean privately, I think he's had too much nectar and decided his ego needed boosting- ' even through the Iris message I could hear thunder rumbling distantly.

Grover paled slightly and changed tack – 'I mean, it's just… unexpected, Lord Zeus?'

'What reason did he give?' I asked.

'His thinking is that the Mist problem doesn't _need_ to be solved and it's some sort of sign that the age of the gods must be coming again. He said that seeing as they've defeated Kronos and Gaia in the past year-' I coughed derisively. 'His words, not mine, Percy. I've told you what I think of the whole idea.'

'Either way, the Mortals are too cynical to accept something like that.' I added bracingly, finding the bright side. 'They'll just think we're a new cult or something. People won't believe stuff like that, especially people who already have a religion. He surely can't be expecting over six billion people to change their faith just like that. I mean, even with proof and stuff.'

'Yeah, I guess so.' Grover agreed, brightening slightly. 'So, how's the quest?'

'We've been gone for under 24 hours Grover, we haven't exactly made much progress.' I remarked. 'So far, I've had several dull lessons and managed to avoid an oh-so-stimulating conversation on epigenetics. How's camp doing? Other than the whole problem, I mean.' I finished lamely.

'You know, the usual.' grimaced Grover. 'There were several accidents in the arena and on the climbing wall, a fight between the Ares kids and the Hermes kids, and the Ares kids and Nemesis kids, and the Ares kids and – well, you get the idea. Tension's high because of the whole Mist thing, I guess. I mean most of them don't even know yet about Zeus' idea. Chiron says we should keep it quiet.'

'And are the Mortals still surrounding Camp?' I asked, remembering my awkward entrance to Camp the previous day.

'Yeah, they've started to try and enter the Camp, but thank the gods that the barriers are holding… I don't know if you've seen the Mortal news, but they're trying to fly helicopters up to Olympus too. The army's getting involved, and probably the FBI too.' Grover bleated dejectedly.

'Hey, can't Hecate do something?' The idea struck me suddenly; if the Mist _hadn't_ gone down, then surely she could just reboot it or something, and the whole problem would be solved.

'Did I mention Zeus has been feeling grouchy recently?' Grover said, anticipating the thunder at this remark and cowering accordingly. 'He was pretty annoyed with the helicopters flying up to Olympus, so decided to take it out on Hecate, as she's meant to be responsible for the Mist. She's been stripped of her goddess-ness, like Apollo and your dad were in the myths. Last we heard, she was in Hawaii sulking.'

'And you didn't mention it?'

'Well, I forgot with everything else going on. She hasn't exactly been much help so far, and with Zeus' idea and all…' He looked like he was going to carry on, but suddenly the Iris message blurred. I could hear Chiron's voice, but couldn't catch the words. When the Iris message came back into focus, I noted that Grover had paled considerably.

'Sorry, Perce. I uh gotta go.' And with that, he swiped through the message and the water droplets from the rainbow dropped to the floor, splashed up, and hit me in the face. Unfortunately, I wasn't concentrating and they broke through my normal son-of-Poseidon I-don't-want-to-get-wet barriers.

This unexpected soaking drew my attention, and I completely forgot about the abrupt end to Grover's message.

* * *

It was English – the last period of the day – when I next got the opportunity to speak to Annabeth.

Despite Annabeth's eagerness to suck up to all of the teachers, she had conceded to take a seat at the back of the class for privacy's sake. We were doing some sort of group project (I zoned out when our teacher was explaining the specifics), so I was able to tell her about my conversation with Grover.

'Zeus is seriously planning on exposing our world?' she gasped, then changed her tone. 'That makes our quest even more important then, Percy, don't you see? Being revealed isn't an option – we need to find out what is causing the whole Mist problem, stop it and then hope that the Mist helps everyone forget. Otherwise…' she trailed off, gesturing vaguely.

'So, any leads so far?' I asked.

Annabeth sighed, and ran her hand through her unruly curls like she did when deep in thought. At last, she began:

'Well, something has to have changed in the perception of all Mortals – presumably across the globe – sometime in the night two days ago. If the Mist had disappeared, it would be more logical. Otherwise, I can only presume that something changed in every Mortal, possibly instantaneously.'

'Is there anything that could even do that?' I asked, drawing on my pretty much non-existent scientific knowledge. 'Maybe a solar flare or, I dunno, a wave of radioactive spiders? A full moon?' In the absence of science, I turned to comics.

'Well, I don't think any amount of spiders could do that, seaweed brain.' She interjected, shuddering. 'I feel like there's a piece I'm missing, something obvious.' Again, she trailed off.

'Well, the gods?' I suggested, clutching at straws. 'Maybe it's some sort of excuse for Zeus, or an after effect of defeating Gaea?'

'It's possible.' Annabeth agreed doubtfully. 'I mean, they certainly have the power to – Book 5 of the Illiad, in case you were wondering. Athena removes the Mist from Diomedes so he can distinguish between gods and Mortals.' I grinned as Annabeth lapsed into her usual fact-regurgitation mode.

'So it's something that you can be born with, or get suddenly at a random point? Seeing through the Mist, I mean.' I was surprised – I thought that this whole problem had been the only case of people suddenly being able to see through the Mist.

'Yeah.' Annabeth muttered distractedly. 'I just feel like I'm missing something that's staring me in the face.' She sighed frustratedly.

'Perhaps that you have not yet even begun your brainstorm on the common themes of Dickens' novels? ' a foreign voice interrupted. With a start, I realised it was Mr Funnell, our teacher. 'Really, given your previous school reports, Miss Chase, I expected better of you.'

Annabeth flushed and began scribbling something down on the paper we had been provided with. I caught something along the lines of 'Poverty, society and class, the inefficiency of government and bureaucracy' and decided that Annabeth pretty much had it covered. I spent the rest of the lesson giving 'helpful' suggestions to Annabeth whenever Mr Funnell came near, and mulling over what Annabeth had said.

It was a relief when the bell rang, and we were released. Just one day of school had seemed to stretch several weeks, and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through another without _something_ happening. Nico, who had glumly emerged from his History lesson to join us, did not help my mood.

As we walked home (Goode was only a few blocks away, and Annabeth had managed to convince us that walking was the best option), Nico seemed constantly tense and on edge. As an awkward silence stretched over us, I decided to just ask him what the matter was.

He cringed slightly, like he did every time somebody asked him a question – some habits were hard to break – then said slowly, 'I've had this feeling ever since lunchtime that demigods – I don't know who specifically, there are so many – are, well, close to death. Some of them have already died. The last time I felt something like this was when Gaea came to Camp Half Blood and Leo-, well, then.'

'Oh.' I supplied helpfully, then an idea seized me: 'I was talking to Grover over an IM this lunchtime, and without any warning, he cut off. The message went all blurry and stuff, and Chiron was telling him something before he swiped through. D'you think it's related? I mean, you said it started around lunchtime.'

'Well we can't exactly do anything now, can we? When we get back to the apartment, then we can check this out. None of us thought to bring any drachma to school, so we can't IM anyone.' Annabeth voiced the rational plan, reminding me uncannily of her mother.

'Sure.' I agreed, and Nico who had been at least listening, if not contributing, lapsed back into a pensive silence.

* * *

When we finally got home, my Mum met us at the door, looking more worried than she had since the morning when everything changed (was it only yesterday?).

'I think you'd better see the news.' She said, even repeating yesterday's words.

'Why? What happened?' I asked quickly.

'They got in.' she said, not really explaining anything. 'I've got to go to the doctor's for my scan, but just look at the news. I'll be back at five.' And with that she left.

Concerned, I raced into the living room, vaulted over the sofa (probably unnecessary, but quicker than the alternative) and landed heavily on the floor, having lost my balance due to a certain cushion. Annabeth and Nico followed me in a slightly more conventional manner, Annabeth switching on the TV as I clambered onto the sofa gingerly.

It was the same glamorous reporter as yesterday, although she had adopted something resembling an 'excited' expression, as opposed to 'worried'. 'And now, an exclusive interview with Nev Trawler himself.' She said, thoroughly too perkily. 'As you'll no doubt remember, it was Nev who first noticed the doorway on his way to work in San Francisco. He alerted the authorities, who have conducted a thorough search of the area and found a secret hideout. But onto Nev. Nev, tell me, how did you notice the doorway?'

A man with greying stubble and an unflattering buzz cut appeared. He had squeezed himself into a suit, but looked thoroughly uncomfortable – as did the suit, which was bulging out around his stomach. In other words, he was fat, and quite possibly slightly drunk, given the way he was slurring his words.

Impatiently, Annabeth switched channels and we were greeted with another news reporter, with more fake tan but an expression she evidently thought conveyed concern.

'As I was saying, both sides have sustained losses, but our brave troops have now returned with crucial information. These teenagers wearing purple T-shirts and wielding out dated weapons have identified themselves as belonging to a place named Camp Jupiter.'

The reporter continued to speak, but I did not catch any of her words. They had attacked Camp Jupiter.


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7 – What?_

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've had exams and the dreaded Writer's Block. I do try to update at least once every fortnight, but it's not always possible. Once again, thank you so much for your reviews – they mean so much to me.  
Now, without further procrastination, on with the chapter…**

 **Disclaimer: I did not write the first Percy Jackson book at 3 years old, therefore I am not Rick Riordan.**

* * *

 _The reporter continued to speak, but I did not catch any of her words. They had attacked Camp Jupiter._

As shocked as I was, I was dimly aware of Nico turning off the TV. With an effort, I pulled myself out of my thoughts – in battle, any sort of depressing train of thought, even that mentality, can get you killed. While we weren't technically at war, it was beginning to feel a lot like a battle.

Camp Jupiter being attacked wasn't such an overwhelming idea – when you're a demigod, monster attacks are part of the job description. No, what concerned me was who was doing the attacking: the war against Kronos - and the one against Gaia - were partly to protect the Mortals. It might not have been the most pressing reason, but protecting Mortals is a part of every demigod's (excluding the psychopathic ones) life. Now that the Mortals were a threat (not quite at the 'end of the world as we know it' stage, but definitely past 'this is a problem'), it was going against all my training. There were no 'goodies' and 'baddies' in this; it was a whole lot more complicated.

Annabeth had evidently been going through a similar train of thought because she broke the silence with a, 'So, what do we do? I mean, we can't exactly go out and kill all the attackers.'

Nico glowered in a way that plainly told us he would have no objections to that, and I remembered that Hazel, who he was perhaps closer to than any other living person, was at Camp Jupiter.

'Look, it's the weekend.' I reminded them. 'Therefore, no school. Therefore, we can go to camp. Therefore, we can sort out the whole problem there, where we're at least in contact with the whole thing.'

Annabeth bit her lip slightly: 'We're on a quest, aren't we? It might not be the wisest decision – I mean, we're meant to solve the problem, _then_ go to camp.' Despite the situation, I chuckled – even after all of these years, Annabeth was still a stickler for the rules.

'Says the person who brought four people on a quest, despite the so called quest rules.' I chided. 'Wise girl, nothing like this has ever happened – I don't think rules matter so much.'

The girl with the fatal flaw of hubris could not concede the point as easily as that though, as she replied with 'But, still… We should at least warn them?'

Despite my and Nico's desire to get back to camp as soon as possible, we were forced to eventually cave in to Annabeth's plan – we would wait until tomorrow, and go in the morning. Her motives were homework and research on the internet (a luxury not available at camp). Mine was that the bowl of blue cookie dough on the counter in the kitchen was waiting to be made into cookies – something I would entrust to only my mother, who was due back in half an hour.

* * *

My mother drove us to camp the next morning – although I had my driving licence, she didn't seem to trust me for some reason. When we reached the bottom of Half Blood Hill – the nearest the road could take us, we could already see the omnipresent swam of Mortals observing the Camp. Gone were the casual observers of a few days ago; these Mortals were uniformed and surrounded by the latest military technology.

I felt a sinking feeling in my gut – while they still might not be able to enter, I was not anxious for a repeat of Camp Jupiter. Could technology somehow overcome the ancient magical barriers?

It was no time to dwell on that, as we surreptitiously ascended the hill, procrastinating coming up with a plan until the last moment – when the nearest Mortals (these ones were lounging around a helicopter, drinking coffee) were only a few feet away.

'Stealth?' I suggested, answering the unspoken question of how we were going to get into camp.

'Shadow travel.' said Nico decisively. Perhaps I wasn't thinking straight, but I agreed without the whole _but Nico nearly killed himself with the Athena Parthenos shadow travelling_ train of thought.

The next thing I knew, I was tightly clutching onto Nico's wrist (he seemed reluctant even for that contact after his… _revelation_ a few months ago) and we were hurtling through the icy darkness, only to land on top of the ping-pong table in the Rec room, with fourteen faces ranging from amused to angry regarding us.

As I scrambled off the table awkwardly and sank into my usual seat for meetings, I reflected dimly on how I needed to stop dramatically interrupting meetings of the cabin counsellors. I caught Will tut disapprovingly at our method of travel (I remembered how he was the one to nurse Nico back to health after his last bout of shadow travelling) before assuming a look of concentration and turning back towards Chiron's startled face.

'Thank you for joining us.' The centaur in question remarked dryly. 'We have been discussing how best to assist our Roman comrades in regards to the attack.'

'As I was saying,' Clarisse repeated, looking remarkably like her father as she cleaned her nails with a dagger, 'They've expressed violent intent. Going to war is the only solution.'

'No!' Piper disagreed vehemently, and I found myself agreeing with her inexplicably, too late noticing the Charmspeak in her voice. Piper evidently realised what she had done too, and blushed slightly before continuing in her normal voice: 'I mean, that would just lead to a massive war with our own country. A country, I might remind you, that spends more money on defence than any other. We need to _talk_.'

'And reveal ourselves.' put in the head of the Nemesis cabin (I really needed to remember their name, I told myself). 'Which would bring balance to both worlds.'

'Maybe we should just go and help Camp Jupiter, and leave the rest to another day' Jake Mason put in. After Leo's _interesting_ relationship with the Romans, Jake had seen it his responsibility to be the diplomatic one in regards to us and the Romans.

There were general murmurs of assent, until Butch of the Iris cabin asked 'But how? Shouldn't we just try to find out what's going on with the Mist and fix it, which would solve the whole problem?'

At this, Chiron turned towards me and Annabeth (Nico having conveniently disappeared at the first sign of bickering). 'Have you discovered anything?'

'Um, well… We know that something has to have affected all of the Mortals at roughly the same time on Wednesday night.' I began, hoping desperately that Annabeth would cut in with an intelligent remark.

'I've been doing some research.' Annabeth interrupted, as I had hoped. 'There were no solar flares, the moon was just a waxing gibbous – nothing special, and no increased amounts of radioactivity or anything, anywhere, anytime this week. None of the people we talked to were aware about anything massive going on either. In fact, the biggest scientific event this week was the first trial of the Sanipill – you know, the one being developed to stop superviruses, and even that's been kept quiet – just some lab tests and…' She trailed off and gasped. 'That must be it!'

And with that, she rushed out of the Big House to her cabin, to general bemusement.

Assuming the role of the good boyfriend, I was elected to follow her. Or, as Connor Stoll put it – 'You're the one least likely to be brutally murdered if you interrupt her doing whatever she's going'.

Dutifully, I went to the Athena Cabin and found Annabeth frantically searching through something on her laptop (after Daedalus' laptop took an untimely plunge into the Coccytus in Tartarus, it was the least Athena could do for her daughter to get her a new one).

After a few minutes of awkwardly hovering on the doorstep, I called out 'Hey, Annabeth-'

'Ask Chiron.' She answered, before I could finish. I remembered how our conversations on the _Argo II_ would often run in this manner, and gave up, settling on the bed next to hers (I know that's against the Camp rules, but there were more pressing matters).

Just as I had resorted to counting the books on the shelves (496 and counting) from boredom, my patience was rewarded – Annabeth gasped, slammed her laptop shut and ran to the 17th book from the left on the third shelf up, flicking through it feverishly. As I was about to ask her what was going on, she dropped that book and grabbed another one, seeming to search for something in it.

Then, finally deciding to acknowledge my presence, she turned to me and said 'Percy, it's genetics!'

'What?' I asked, feeling a sense of déjà vu to before, with Grover.

'The reason the Mortals can suddenly see through the Mist… It's genetics. Well, epigenetics. It _has_ to be.'

* * *

 **A/N:  
Sorry about the ending – I'm not very pleased with how it turned out, but you have the bombshell at least.  
As always, please please please review!  
**


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8 – It's all too sciencey for me_

* * *

 **A/N: I would continue to bombard you with excuses of why this is late but the only reason is laziness on my part.  
** _ **Just to clarify in case I haven't previously mentioned, but this is set in the autumn between HoO and ToA – so Apollo has disappeared and the power of prophecy still isn't working but that's about it.**_ **  
As always, please read, enjoy and review!**

 **Disclaimer: If I were Rick Riordan I would not be writing fanfiction, would I? Therefore, I do not own the world of Percy Jackson, I just dabble in it.**

* * *

' _What?' I asked, feeling a sense of déj_ _à_ _vu to before, with Grover._

' _The reason the Mortals can suddenly see through the Mist… It's genetics. Well, epigenetics. It has to be.'_

'I still have no idea what you're talking about, Wise Girl.' I said, already anticipating the gods-why-is-my-boyfriend-so-think look on Annabeth's face – sure enough, I was not disappointed.

'You remember when I was talking to Rufus?' she asked, giving me a long-suffering look as she sank onto the bed next to me. 'His dad is a scientist, and was working on some sort of epigenetics research – you know, trying to turn on and off some of the human genes for different effects. Therefore, the only logical conclusion given the circumstances is that he was successful.'

'Successful in editing the genes of the entire human race at the same time?' I asked incredulously, deciding to let the fact that Annabeth was obviously dumbing down her explanation exclusively for my 'limited brainpower' go in favour of more exciting revelations.

'Well, not technically at exactly the same time – that's what helped me figure it out. You see, the first reports of the Mist vanishing were here in New York at approximately 2am – it all started here. The last reports were in Australia – Perth to be exact – at 5pm. That's fifteen hours later; almost exactly the time it would take for a sound-wave to travel that distance without going into space. Don't you see, Percy? Rufus' father has managed to transmit some sort of genetic code across the entire world through sound waves. It's pure genius.' A grin split her face – trust Annabeth to admire the genius of the plan.

I was so overwhelmed that the only question I could think of was 'But why didn't he reroute it through space or something?'

Annabeth seemed to contemplate it for a minute before answering decisively, 'He probably didn't have the authority to hijack a satellite – after all, it isn't exactly legal what he's done – and anyway, then it would be limited to where there was phone reception or internet connection. This way he's reached the whole world. But anyway, that's not what matters – we need to find out if he's changed anything else accidentally or not in the genetic code of all Mortals and then figure out how to reverse it.'

I was thankful she'd stopped with all the science stuff – at least now I could understand her, although I had no answer to either of her problems.

Annabeth abruptly stood and began pacing, deep in thought. After a few minutes of this behaviour I realised that she probably wouldn't notice if I left; and anyway, Chiron and the other counsellors needed to know what happened.

* * *

When I told Chiron he seemed equally relieved and concerned, choosing only to say 'I see we underestimated Science and the Mortal's understanding of it.' To be honest, I was hoping for something more along the lines of 'well, that's easy to reverse' or 'how about we go to Olympus and yell at Zeus until he does something?' (The latter being Clarisse's response when she heard the news, after suggesting we incarcerate Rufus' father). In fact, going to Olympus and demanding either help or explanation was looking like a pretty tempting offer.

My conviction was only increased when word was sent from Camp Jupiter that they had strengthened their defences so that no more Mortals could come in, and that there had been few casualties – a part of my mind had been worrying about them for the last few hours, and now I could get rid of that worry and focus more completely on the problem at hand (still, I did feel guilty that I couldn't help in any way).

If it wasn't for Annabeth, all my conviction would have come to nothing – a few minutes later I heard her calling impatiently for me from within her cabin.

'Percy, we need to go to Olympus, get Hermes or my moth– Athena – to check for anything odd in the gene code of, say, Rachel. Then we can work out some sort of solution or cure.' She announced, following my train of thought almost exactly.

And that was how, an hour later, we ended up in the lift on the way to the 600th floor of the Empire States Building, with a sun-tanned Rachel in tow (she had just come back from a holiday when we whisked her off).

* * *

Now, I've been to Olympus a lot of times, under a lot of different circumstances, but this has to count as one of the weirdest times – for one thing, all of Olympus' streets were completely deserted and the gods and nymphs that usually lined the streets were huddled indoors. For another, there seemed to be a thunderstorm-tornado thing directly above the throne room of Olympus, which spurted out plumes of fire every few seconds. I could only guess several of the gods (at least Zeus and Poseidon, given the nature of the thunderstorm-tornado thing) were in there, arguing. Maybe the weirdest thing was how Hermes was waiting for us.

I know that some of the gods could be pretty decent sometimes (Hermes mainly coming under this category), but a personal welcome from one of the Olympians – the rest of whom seemed to be bickering dramatically – was most definitely odd. I was immediately suspicious, and told Hermes as much (ignoring the despairing rolling of eyes coming from both Rachel and Annabeth).

The god grimaced slightly – an expression that may or may not have been embarrassed flickering over his face briefly – before answering: 'Look, I know you've worked out the solution to the whole problem and it's Science and that's great. I'd love to help you – truly, I would… I mean this whole thing is terrible for business. I can't even dispatch drakon eggs without drawing attention from the _Mortal_ cops. Anyway, I would help you, only my dearest Father has officially instructed me not to.'

'What?' asked Annabeth incredulously.

'I know.' agreed Hermes. 'Artemis could've probably changed his mind, but with Apollo gone she's refused to help. A shame really… Zeus has decided that we're going to pop down to New York and generally wreak destruction and so on until the Mortals are forced to believe that we exist. Though, I have to say, I miss all those sacrifices… Meat just isn't as good these days – why, back in Corinth you used to be able to get a dozen cows as big as – well, big cows – with just one tiny little threat of extermination. Those were the days. Though in Athens, there-'

'Uh… Lord Hermes?' prompted Rachel. 'We were talking about you helping us?'

'Ah yes.' Hermes was suddenly businesslike again. 'Well, as I've mentioned, I can't. Sorry and all that.'

'Telling us if there are any changes in Rachel's DNA wouldn't really help us, though.' I had no idea where Annabeth was going with this but she had her 'I have an idea' expression so I left her to it. 'It's just so we know that she won't develop any odd mutations or anything, you see? It won't help our quest in any way – Zeus doesn't even need to know.'

This tactic didn't seem to be working, so Annabeth quickly changed tactics 'I mean, Lord Hermes, I understand if you don't feel up to it. After the whole Greco-Roman schism I know you've had to recuperate. Only, you _are_ the god of doctors. Who else is qualified enough what with Apollo gone?'

Hermes, flattered, eventually agreed and drew out his caduceus. Waving it in the general direction of Rachel, he then announced that 'with the Oracle of Delphi sitting inside it was hard to see anything, but the risk of pancreatic cancer had probably reduced by 54%.'

Reminding us that we would not speak of this unless we wanted to become closely acquainted with cockroaches, and warning us that Zeus would most likely get his way and we needed to be careful, Hermes bade us goodbye and disappeared in an impressive but overly dramatic column of fire.

It was not until the next morning that I remembered to be worried about Zeus wanting to reveal us to the world. By then, it was too late.

 **A/N:  
I'm not very satisfied with this chapter but this is the third or so draft and I need to stop procrastinating finishing this off.  
Hopefully next chapter will be better (and less confusing)  
Thank you to all of you who faithfully review this deteriorating fanfiction** **\- it means a lot.**


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9 – Really, Zeus?_

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, another chapter… I'm regretting not planning this fic more but there will probably be about five or so more chapters.  
To be more specific about the time frame, this is early October 2012 (just pretend that HoO happened in 2012 rather than 2010).  
You know the drill – please read, enjoy (hopefully) and review.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm not a New York Times bestselling author (at least, not yet) – therefore I'm not Rick Riordan and I don't own any of this...**

* * *

 _It was not until the next morning that I remembered to be worried about Zeus wanting to reveal us to the world. By then, it was too late._

From the minute I woke up (at the unearthly hour of 7am… _thanks_ Grover), I was insanely busy; not only did we (well, OK, the Athena and Hecate cabins mainly) have to try and solve the whole fiasco with only Hermes' all-so-helpful information for aid, we also had to carry on like Camp was completely normal, whilestill under military observation and keeping the details from the younger campers.

At least, that's my excuse for not warning Chiron sooner about our impending doom. In fact it was the Stoll brothers who first found out that Zeus had actually carried out his ludicrous threat: they had somehow procured a TV and been watching something-or-other on it (knowing the brothers, it probably wasn't suitable for the crowd of younger demigods who had been attracted by the entertainment) when a news report live from outside the Empire States Building came through.

As the TV was confiscated immediately ('What were you thinking you two, you could have attracted monsters and caused more problems!'), we had to watch the report via Iris-message.

At any other time, the sight of all of us – demigods, satyrs, centaur and nymphs alike crowded together in the amphitheatre, wearing a bizarre assortment of clothes from the activities that had just been interrupted – would have been funny. However, we were all fixed upon the misty screen in place of the campfire.

An incredulous Mortal with an excessive amount of hairspray was saying 'and in the ridiculous conclusion to this week's events, we have a confession from the alleged 'Greek gods'. Have they really been here for the last few thousand years, watching over us and avoiding detection?' She giggled derisively before continuing. 'or is this some sort of stunt? Could it be from the camp our army bravely attacked on Friday, who style themselves as Camp Jupiter? Or is this just an elaborate hoax?'

She continued in this style for a while, while my brain decided that it would be a great time to zone out. I started paying attention again when she announced. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, here is Jem Reynolds, an expert in the Ancient Religions and ex-magician – perhaps he'll be able to shed some light on the situation. Jem, what do you think?' The camera cut to a young man with a shock of dark hair and glasses.

'To recap the facts, this morning at 11:10am EST, a twelve-foot tall figure wearing a business suit appeared in a wreath of fire and water, calling himself 'Zeus'. This 'Zeus' announced that he was the king of Greek gods and that they have been alive and thriving for the last five thousand years. When questioned on his location, 'Zeus' said that they were tied to Western civilisation and moved as the centre of the West changed – currently residing on Mount Olympus above the Empire State Building. He said that the reason for them revealing themselves now was that their protection – the 'Mist', a barrier between the real and 'godly' – had been rendered useless. When asked for proof, 'Zeus' exploded seventeen cars and disappeared in a shower of sparks. The police have expressed the desire to apprehend him for destruction of property.' Jem spoke slowly as if he was trying to figure it all out.

'So, what do you _think_ Jem?' interrupted the reporter, her fake smile slipping off her face as she frowned in impatience.

'I think that this would be very hard to fake, from a magician's point of view – although tricks of fire are easy, our forensic scientists haven't found any sort of means of exit for this 'Zeus'. The character of this 'Zeus' also fits the Zeus from Greek mythology, although of course anyone well-versed in the myths could fake this. However, since the public incredulity has risen, a storm has set in.' He gestured at the rain behind him. 'Some may view this as a coincidence, although there was no cloud cover only half an hour ago. Zeus, as god of the sky, would have that sort of power. So, I think that the authentic details like that mean that this is the only possible explanation.'

'So, Jem Reynolds is optimistic.' The reporter scowled – this was evidently not what she hoped Jem would say. 'But he remains in the vast minority – after all, in this predominantly Christian nation we can't expect those with faith to abandon it because of the proclamation of an obvious madman. However, the president has announced that he is willing to discuss matters with this 'Zeus' in the Whitehouse. Of course, this is not the first time the president has been accused of being naïve, as Romney has pointed out during the presidential campaign …'

Chiron swiped through the connection and regarded us all gravely.

'Campers please return to your activities… Counsellors come with me, we must discuss this.' The centaur said, trotting off to the Big House.

We all followed, numb with shock. I had reached my limit – the Mist disappearing I could deal with, just about, and the attack on Camp Jupiter was bearable in comparison. But this? This was too much. Zeus had just decided to reveal us all, despite reason, and put everyone at risk. Of course, the Mortals might not believe him, but how long could they deny it when confronted with proof.

When the Mist had disappeared there was still some hope – after all, we had thought that it could be reversed somehow. Now, however, I knew that our lives had been irrevocably changed.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10 – And It Was Going So Well_

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay… I'd like to blame it on my Duke of Edinburgh expedition colliding with my barely-existent writing schedule, although the true reason is merely laziness.  
Disclaimer: Do I have grey hair? No. Therefore I cannot possibly be Rick Riordan and don't own any of this.**

* * *

 _When the Mist had disappeared there was still some hope – after all, we had thought that it could be reversed somehow. Now, however, I knew that our lives had been irrevocably changed._

It was with a heavy heart that I trudged back to Goode High on Monday morning – the more cowardly part of me wanted to go and bury myself back under the duvet in bed at Camp Half Blood until this was all over, but Chiron had cajoled us into returning to school (yet again) despite the whole revealing-our-whole-entire-world-to-the-Mortals problem.

When we entered the building, we immediately split up (Nico's plan, despite the whole 'safety in numbers' theory) in order to 'y'know get more information and stuff'. I managed to attach myself to some of the less antagonistic boys in my class, who just looked at me, raised their eyebrows quizzically (at least I think it was meant to be quizzically, but to me it just looked like a lot of caterpillars tap-dancing on their foreheads), and resumed their conversation. Thankfully it was about the whole Zeus malarkey (as it shall henceforth be referred to):

'So what d'you think?' asked the boy nearest to me (Mark? Max? Michael? M-something at least).

'I don't know… it seems pretty fake. I mean, lightning and stuff? That's so overdone. Anyone could fake that sort of trick if they'd had enough preparation time,' said one of the particularly cynical boys, whose name almost definitely begun with a 'J', oblivious to the distant rumble of thunder at his words.

'I thought it seemed pretty authentic. I mean, they got his character right and everything,' Harry, the shortest boy in the group and a Classics-fan despite his basketballing prowess, commented mildly.

'Don't be so dumb… It was obviously rigged. Don't tell me you actually _believed_ that stuff?' sniggered Mark/Max/Michael, who had obviously only brought up the conversation to share his opinion on the matter.

'I mean, come on, do they obviously expect us to believe that sort of thing? We're not idiots.' Kyle (think spiky blond, muddy eyes and an obsession with rap music) agreed.

The conversation continued in this vein and I lost interest, instead taking time to read the posters on the walls (did you know that the orange colour in fireworks comes from Calcium salts?), until J-thingy asked me 'So what d'you think, Percy?'

Startled in being invoked into the conversation I muttered something along the lines of 'um, well, it's crap obviously,' which didn't seem to convince them, so I improvised wildly: 'my mum, she's the super strict religious type, you see, so she wouldn't even let me watch it after she heard the news. She thought it would corrupt me or something stupid like that… I mean she took it pretty seriously for something that's obviously… a set up.' Part of me cringed not only at my lame excuse, but my invented attitude towards my mother (who, for the record, is not remotely religious as far as I know, and in no way deserving of that description).

'Eh, fair enough.' responded Harry, before changing the subject to a party they had been to over the weekend (I left when they started laughing at some sort of inside joke involving cucumber slices and coke).

When I met up with Annabeth and Nico again at lunch, they both had similar stories to tell: Annabeth explained that only one girl was convinced, and the others soon dissuaded her, while Nico who had presumably been spying from the shadows, remarked that most of the teachers were cynical too (Paul had apparently been doing a good job of deterring his colleagues with his previously unmentioned 'supreme knowledge of pyrotechnics and trickery').

I breathed a sigh of relief as (most of) the additional worries that had been building up over the past 24 hours trickled away: now that I had concrete proof of the ignorance of Mortals, I was incredulous that I had ever truly believed otherwise – after all, the majority of Mortals were far too cynical to believe Zeus anyway. After all, even without the Mist, Mortals would continue to alter their perception of events to try and fit it with their version of reality.

As the afternoon passed in a dull blur of monotonous lessons (namely Geography, Latin and Algebra), I comforted myself with the fact that we were safe(ish) from the imminent threat of exposure, and the main problem now was to figure out how to cure the Mist problem.

* * *

Looking back on it, I don't see how I could have been so naïve – although I blame it on excessive worrying and sleep-deprivation in a short space of time. Of course the Fates wouldn't just let me potter on with just one problem at a time:

It was at about 3pm when I realised that something was wrong – though admittedly it did take several nudges from Annabeth and the whole school gathering in the auditorium for me to notice (as well as Annabeth reminding me precisely why my nickname was 'Seaweed Brain'). This time when the projector flickered on, on the Goode High School stage, the TV news presenter wasn't wearing a fake smile or stifling incredulous giggles at soon as the 'evidence' was shown.

In what seemed to be a routine occurrence now (seriously, did there have to be a bombshell found out by way of news channels every -c-h-a-p-t-e-r-* day?), the presenter waffled on a bit about 'concrete proof' before cutting to several news clips.

In the first, Zeus (looking in equal parts prideful and irritated) and Hermes (looking as mortified as would be appropriate for a 3000-or-so year old god) were doing the usual pyrotechnics and godly proclamations in the middle of Times Square, with an audience of Mortals.

In the second, no fewer than thirty-three unpredicted hurricanes were battering the coastline, as well as several tsunami warnings (I felt a rush of betrayal from my father, but quickly quenched it – the crisis had priority over dodgy parental relationships) predicting tsunamis later this evening and over the following few days.

In the third, a camera somehow zooming in on what Annabeth frantically whispered was the San Andreas fault revealed a flash of Hades' realm, complete with one Cerberus plus red rubber ball (which somehow ruined the ominous effect). I'm not sure how Hades managed to orchestrate the whole thing, but it was certainly effective.

The gods may have described it as 'effective' or 'necessary' but to me, it was concrete evidence. Evidence that not even the Mortals could deny – it was proof.

 **A/N:  
Again, I'm not particularly pleased with this chapter (blame the Writer's Block that unexpectedly struck about halfway through) – the whole idea seems somewhat repetitive now, as Percy noted. At least it's published now and I can procrastinate for another fortnight**

 **As always, please review (preferably with feedback, but if writing random words gets you to review, then by all means go ahead).**

 ***Yes, 's _superlative_ formatting doesn't seem to accept a crossed out word, so you'll just have to use your imagination.**


	11. Chapter 11

l lll l l ll l ll l l ll l l ll l l lll l ll ll l l ll l l lll l lll l l ll l ll l l ll l l ll l l lll l ll ll l l ll l l lll l lll l l ll l ll l l ll l l ll l l lll l ll ll l l ll l l lll l lll l l ll l ll l l ll l l ll l l lll l ll ll l l ll l l lll l lll l l ll l ll l l ll l l ll l l lll l ll ll l l ll l l lll l

 _Chapter 11 - Basically just a Geography lesson_

 **A/N: Once again my only excuses are laziness and procrastination (and quite possibly the nefarious Writer's Block), but regardless I hope you enjoy!  
I know I've been neglecting poor Nico somewhat, but my excuse is that this is from Percy's perspective and he's not always very observant – just pretend that Nico's getting on with his own thing most of the time. Also, just to clarify it's still Monday in the story.**

 **Disclaimer: Yeah, because if I were Rick Riordan I would definitely be writing something on** _ **fan**_ **(and in case you are somehow immune to sarcasm: no, I don't the world of PJO)**

* * *

 _The gods may have described it as 'effective' or 'necessary' but to me, it was concrete evidence. Evidence that not even the Mortals could deny – it was proof._

* * *

I don't know about you, but there's only so much depressing news I can take in one week. At this point, the needle on the how-many-surprises-Percy-can-take-in-a-week-ometer (I know, catchy name, huh?) was off the scale so I decided to settle on a radical tactic to cope; optimism.

As Annabeth glanced at me worriedly when the video cut off, I plastered a smile onto my face and whispered (in Greek of course – let it not be said that Percy Jackson was security lax) to her 'at least we don't _have_ to fix the problem now… And we're still safe, at least for now'. Annabeth offered me a weak smile before a mask of surprise and mild fear slid over her face – matching most of the Mortals' expressions. Realising her wisdom, I promptly copied her (sort of – I'm not particularly gifted in either the subtlety or acting departments, but the surrounding Mortals seemed pretty convinced).

After that it took me a few seconds to process that the entire hall had erupted into conversation – even the teachers, who were meant to be shepherding us back to the last few minutes of lessons, were whispering among themselves (not that I cared – Geography was officially the dullest subject out there, even with our current topic of tectonics). For goodness' sake, even the _principal_ , who was meant to be ordering the teachers to shepherd us back to classes was trying to include himself in some of the teachers' discussions about the topic.

Eventually, however, he clambered back up onto the stage and loudly tapped his microphone until the noise died down.

'While this has certainly been an enlightening revelation, I ask all teachers to escort their students back to class where they may discuss the event if it ties into the curriculum, or otherwise get on with lessons. Freshmen, please lead out from the back.' I was surprised that he was basically authorising us to carry on talking about this in lessons, but I may have mentioned that my how-many-surprises-Percy-can-take-in-a-week-ometer was already off the scale so I just sort of grinned and followed my class back to room 103.

'So class, as you saw in the video, there were several earthquakes and tsunamis which ties in nicely to what we were learning earlier.' I had doubted that the stiff Mr Browne would allow such 'frivolous conversation' in the middle of one of his lectures but it was certainly a day of the unexpected, and my opinion of him rose from 'quite possibly has a criminal record from boring someone to death' to 're-evaluate opinion, though you were probably right first time'

'Now, who can tell me what fault was shown in the last clip that revealed the Underworld? How about you, Percy?' he continued. I sighed, knowing that it had been too interesting to be true.

'San Andreas fault, sir.' I replied, grateful that Annabeth had seen fit to share such information previously.

'Good, good.' He seemed somewhat surprised. 'And who can tell me what plates are either side of the San Andreas fault?' I zoned out again in boredom, as the lesson seemed like it was going to continue in this vein.

I was ecstatic when the bell rang, and was just about to dramatically spring up and charge through the doors when Mr Browne announced 'And of course remember to bring back your permission forms for our trip to the Long Island Maritime Museum* and Montauk Beach as part of our next topic on Oceans.' I did a double take and once again decided to re-evaluate my view on Geography – after all, how bad could a trip to my childhood holiday home and a topic about my dad's domain be?

 ***Nope, not a real place so don't go Googling it.  
** I'm presuming he's in Junior year as the year between books 4 and 5 would have been his Freshman year, and he would have missed most of his Sophomore year sleeping (let's just pretend that he wasn't forced to re-sit that year, and that I understand the American education system).**

 **A/N:  
Yeah a bit of a short filler chapter but I wanted to at least publish **_**something**_

 **I blame anything odd in this chapter (totally not my fault, no not at all) on the fact that I was listening to Phantom of the Opera while writing this…  
Do review – I'm running out of ways to say this, but even if it's 'Hey you really suck' or 'Banana' it still means a lot to me (and as odd as it may sound, it also motivates me to write… therefore more reviews = faster update)**

 **UPDATE: Yes I know I had a copy and paste fiasco with some barcode-like lines at the top of this chapter which escaped from my Chemistry homework. Can I be bothered to change it? No.**


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12 – I meet a tortoise_

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 **A/N: I know, a chapter that's not late (cue gasping). Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed last chapter – it brought a smile (well, a mad grin) to my face.**

 **Disclaimer: Would I be spending all my time on if I had published over 20 successful books? No? Well then I'm not Rick Riordan and I don't own the world of PJO…**

* * *

 _I did a double take and once again decided to re-evaluate my view on Geography – after all, how bad could a trip to my childhood holiday home and a topic about my dad's domain be?_

I'm fast-forwarding Tuesday mostly as nothing particularly interesting happened – no breath-throughs, earth-shattering or dramatic revelations or even petty high school drama – but also because I was so zoned out the entire time that I barely even noticed the day slip away. I shall recommence our tale (Annabeth's just told me to shut up because that sounds too formal/dramatic/insert-whatever-word-you-like-here-I'm-sure-she-wouldn't-notice, but I think it sounds mature and heroic… _anyway…_ ) on Wednesday morning at the unearthly hour of 6am.

In case you have the memory of a goldfish or can't count to three, this was the day of the trip to Montauk beach and the museum-y place. I'll admit it – I was childishly excited (after all, it's not every day you get to go on a trip to one of your favourite places instead of sitting in various dull classrooms). Annabeth kept nudging me every time what she described as a 'goofy grin' spread across my face, as well as reminding me that there could very well be Monster attacks, especially so close to camp.

Unfortunately, being a daughter of Athena, she had an uncanny knack of being right. But anyway, I'll try to go about this in a vaguely chronological order… All 40 of us taking Geography in Junior year (Goode is special like that) piled into the bus that would take us on the 4(ish) hour journey to Montauk, and the bus set off – getting caught in the inevitable gridlock of New York traffic might I add. So far, so good. In fact, the entire journey there was pretty dull – all of the Mortals were larking around on their phones (mainly the newest make of iPhone – whether that was 4, 5, 7 or 23 I have absolutely no clue), blasting out what I presumed were the latest hits from iPods, or having heart-to-heart conversations (although I admit, that was mainly the female population of the bus – the male population, when not glued to their devices, generally dissolved into 'manly fighting').

* * *

We finally arrived at the Long Island Maritime Museum, and all of the class reluctantly disembarked and split into groups to explore the depths of the museum. Unfortunately, unlike in Atlanta, there was no secret mythological section so I resigned myself to an exhibit on turtles. I must have majorly zoned out or something because next thing I knew everyone was leaving the main museum to the central exhibition (and invariably dull guided tour). I jogged to catch up with the bulk of the group, hearing them talking (surprisingly enthusiastically) about sea creatures and boats and latitude and longitude and shipping forecasts and- well, generally nautical stuff.

The tour guide decided that it would be a good time to mysteriously appear from behind a decorative pillar, and lead us in. I took the opportunity to scrutinise said tour guide while he was introducing himself. He was a slightly stooping man, probably in his late 50s or early 60s, about 5'9" with shaggy greying hair. He looked like an older man trying to be young with a 'careless' beard and edgy clothing (by edgy, I mean he had the wrong colour tie for the museum uniform).

Maybe it was his strange appearance, or his name tag ('Hi! My name is _Timothy_ but you can call me _Timmy Boy_ ), or just my paranoia, but something about him screamed 'suspicious!'

I was jolted out of my superlative deductions when he directed a question at me:  
'So, Perseu-ercy, as you've been listening to me so attentively,' here most of the class snickered, but I was more focused on his strange pronunciation of my name – almost as if he'd switched half-way through – and how I was facing my impending doom by being picked on to answer his undoubtedly obscure question. 'Tell, me, when was high tide this morning on Montauk beach?'

I breathed an internal sigh of relief – here was something I actually knew (thank my Poseidon-y powers). '4:05 AM' I said, almost too quickly. Then at his expression I added 'sir'.

'Correct' He announced, looking satisfied. 'It arrived at dawn precisely – not that the sun technically has anything to do with the waves. Who can tell me which celestial body theoretically commands the tides?'

Ben (remember him?) decided now would be a good time to wave his hand in the air and say 'The moon obviously.' Before adding, 'but with the Greek gods and all that, shouldn't it be Poseidon?'

The tour guide looked at Ben appraisingly before answering slowly 'well, what can we Mortals know about the ways of the gods? Let us only hope that your visit to Montauk is more… enlightening.' The way he mentioned the gods – it seemed almost bitter. _But how?_ I wondered.

I had mentally confirmed that no matter how creepy the tour guide was, he couldn't have been a monster – after all, seeing as all of the Mortals could see through the Mist, at least one of them would have noticed if a big hairy (or, y'know small and hairless – I'm not stereotyping here) monster was giving us a tour. Which left the question of – what in Hades is this man?

Annabeth, about five people along from me, had presumably reached the same conclusion (only probably instantly rather than ten minutes into his monologue) – I could almost see her mind whirring as she ran through lists of potential gods, monsters and other mythological figures.

I watched her, trying to read her lips as she mouthed names to herself – _Zelos_ (wasn't he the god of envy and some other stuff?) _, Nereus_ (I was pretty sure she was wrong on this one – having met the unpleasant man myself) _, Geras_ (I remembered the god of age from Tartarus – it was certainly a possibility) _, Dolus_ (I had no idea who he was), _Phales_ (um, come again?) _Palaemon_ (some sort of immortal sea person), and so on. I was so engrossed in trying to read her lips that it took me a minute to realise everyone else was starting to leave.

I made to follow them, but then the tour guide called out 'Perseus, a word please'.

I started and turned around – it was now or never to find out who/what he was. In my peripheral vision, I caught sight of Annabeth donning her cap (presumably to stay and also find out what was going on, or save my butt if the tour guide turned out to be evil).

'Do you know who I am?' he asked, turning to look at me intently.

'No.' I answered truthfully.

'Of course not.' He said glumly. 'Well, young demigod, my name is not Timothy, as you might have suspected.' He indicated his name tag slowly. I had already gathered that, and wished he would get on with it – we only had a few minutes before the class realised I was missing.

'Who are you then?' OK, maybe it came out a little harsh.

'Me? I am Tithonus.' He answered, again looking at me as if he were expecting some sort of exclamation.

'Aren't you meant to be a tortoise?' I know that sounded off, but allow me to explain: as far as I knew, Tithonus was a lover of Eos (y'know, the goddess of the dawn and all that) and Eos asked the Olympians to make him immortal to be with him forever. So he was granted immortality but Zeus, being the moron he is, found a loophole – Eos didn't ask for Tithonus to be granted eternal youth. So Tithonus grew older and older and older and then grew so wizened that be became the first tortoise. Therefore, I was surprised to see him not in tortoise form.

He chuckled bitterly. 'No, Zeus may have left the myths like that to teach Mortals a lesson, but don't forget that Eos is also the goddess of rejuvenation – after all, the dawn comes back fresh every day, does it not? I was only a tortoise for a few days before Eos found me and returned me to this – which is good enough.'

Tithonus looked like he was going to carry on, so I interjected 'I see… but why did you want to actually talk to me? I mean, your story's sad and all but I'm sure that's not the only reason.'

'No' Tithonus agreed. 'I came to warn you.'

'About what? If it's Mist going kaput then you're a little late-'

'No, my dear boy.' I was taken aback at his affectionate tone – I hadn't exactly been polite. 'You see, the dawn sees all as it heralds the days ahead. With Eos, I have seen great unrest for you in the future. I am here to warn you. The Mortals aren't as oblivious as you hope, and they may find out the truth very soon. Very soon indeed. Be careful Perseus.'

And with that he turned and walked away, leaving me dumbfounded.

I may very well have stood there all day if it wasn't for Annabeth reappearing and dragging me back to the group, muttering about Tithonus, warnings and probability. I nodded in what I hoped were the right places.

When we rejoined the group, there were a few suspicious glances but I thanked Poseidon that none of them had taken it seriously – they all just seemed to notice us and turn back to their huddles. Once again, how wrong I was.

* * *

 **A/N:  
I didn't get quite as far along as I had intended in this chapter, but never fear, next chapter will (hopefully) get to some action.**

 **If the story seems strange at any point (e.g. characters seemingly only turning up when needed, Percy not really focusing on the whole Mist fiasco, Mortals seemingly becoming instantly knowledgeable about the whole Greek world), just remember it's being narrated by an ADHD sleep-deprived teenager who isn't exactly renowned for his observation skills. At least, that's my excuse.**

 **Thank you for bothering to read this… Please review as always.  
And, of course, have some virtual blue cookies if you bothered to read all of this  
(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)**


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter 13 – I take a sea life census_

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 **A/N:  
I've managed to write myself into a **_**deus ex machina**_ **worthy hole and procrastinated writing this (due to Easter, holidays and the like), so have a rather hurried and substandard chapter – but a chapter nonetheless.**

 **Disclaimer: Yes, I've definitely been publishing successful books annually since I was 3 years old. In case sarcasm is lost on you, that means that I'm not Rick Riordan and don't own the world of PJO.**

* * *

 _When we rejoined the group, there were a few suspicious glances but I thanked Poseidon that none of them had taken it seriously – they all just seemed to notice us and turn back to their huddles. Once again, how wrong I was._

It was another long and equally tedious journey to Montauk (improved somewhat by the fact that we were driving along the coastline and there was an omnipresent smell of the sea).

I don't know exactly what I was expecting when the bus pulled up by Montauk beach – perhaps just a short lecture on local beaches and then freedom to do whatever, or maybe a Monster attack (after all, Tithonus' warning hadn't exactly been all about rainbows and bunnies and other cute stuff (are unicorns a thing for Mortals?)). What I was most definitely not expecting was the instruction to 'divide yourself into groups of three and do what we discussed earlier' (I know, probably not as climatic as you were expecting).

I had no idea what 'we discussed earlier', so I did the logical thing – crept back five rows to where Annabeth was stuck between two girls arguing on who would start something or other first, and asked her as subtly as I could.

'You're such a Seaweed Brain.' was her immediate response (accompanied, naturally, with a roll of her eyes). 'We're meant to be collecting as wide a range of seaweed and seashell samples as possible, as well as recording what marine life we spot. It sounds right up your street.' she smiled. I grinned – this wasn't what I had expected but it was something that wouldn't be too hard, for a change. I had been pottering around on this beach doing the exact same thing for years.

'Oh, and Kelp Head? I expect you didn't bring any swimming things, did you?' Annabeth asked as we began to clamber out of the bus.

'What?' I asked, straightening in surprise and hitting my head on the low ceiling. 'Ow.' I added as an afterthought.

'Did you even read the letter?' asked Annabeth, split between exasperation and amusement.

'Um… I read the first page. The other page looked like Health & Safety stuff.'

'The _other page_ was the one explaining that unless you could prove that you can swim 100 feet you would be stuck to paddling around looking for samples – the rest of us are meant to go further out and dive down for a "wider range of samples demonstrating the local marine ecosystem".' Annabeth explained, exasperation lacing her tone.

'Surely being on the Swim Team should be enough?' I asked, somewhat desperately. I couldn't bear staying on the shore like a non-swimmer while everyone else splashed around (shhh, I know I sound like a dramatic daughter of Aphrodite but go with it).

'I doubt it.' said Annabeth, in the sort of tone where I couldn't be sure whether she was joking.

* * *

To cut a long story (involving several long-winded conversations and a frantic search for proof of swimming ability and swimming trunks) short, I love my mother. Allow me to explain – she had actually bothered to read the letter, anticipated I hadn't, and packed the appropriate items into the very bottom of my sizeable rucksack. Soon enough, we were all spread out along the seafront in our groups of three (I was with Annabeth and Ben) ready to plunge into the frigid water.

Due to someone's idiotic safety policy we couldn't be more than 25 feet away from the rest of the group, so my half-formed plan involving a quick trip to the nearest hippocampus habitat (who said that the marine life we found couldn't be mythological?) was dashed.

Nevertheless, it was an extremely fun first half-hour (and no, I _definitely_ wasn't responsible for the freak wave that soaked the paddling bikini-clad girls mocking Annabeth for her more conservative choice of a swimsuit).

Unsurprisingly, by the half-way mark our group had catalogued the most different types of marine life out of all the groups. A typical 'identification' went something along these lines:

 _I notice fish/crustacean/jellyfish/you get the idea following me around._

 _Me:_ Um, hey, what are you?

 _Thing:_ I'm a insert-random-bubbling-sound-here, lord

 _Me:_ In English please? Also, please don't call me lord.

 _Thing:_ I'm a thing, lord

 _Me:_ Can you tell me where the nearest fancy seaweed is, please?

 _Thing:_ Of course, lord. It's location

 _Me:_ Thanks. Bye I guess.

 _Thing:_ Bye, lord

 _Thing leaves, occasionally adding additional message as it leaves._

 _Me: Annabeth, we've got a(nother) you record it? Also, some seaweed._

In fact, when I noticed a hippocampus pawing the ground, after we'd returned to the water, in a _I want to get your attention_ sort of way in the field of my vision, I thought it was just another animal clamouring for attention.

I swam over to it and asked 'Hey there, what do you want?'

The hippocampus replied _'Lord, are you aware that there are telekhines heading your way?'_

'Um… no.' was my oh so intelligent response. 'How? Why? How many?'

' _I can only assume that they returned with Gaea and hid while the other Monsters were dispelled back to Tartarus. They probably sensed all of the animals coming over to you – it does leave a trail, you know. And as for number, I do not know exactly but I estimate maybe 24 or so. What would you like me to do, lord?'_

'I'll handle it, it's fine.' I said airily (is that the right word? I don't know what it means precisely but it sounds right.) and with that the hippocampus departed.

I surfaced and told Annabeth to mark down our third hippocampus (whispering to her about the impending telekhine attack while she did so).

My plan – which I had outlined to her – was as follows:  
\- Annabeth distracts Ben and other curious Mortals somehow (I suggested cramps, but she glared at me so fiercely that I don't think that's an option)  
\- I dive down and find said telekhines and fight them  
\- The End.

It could do with a little work, but it's a good basis. At least it would be if Annabeth didn't insist on coming with me.

'Look, can you breathe underwater?' I pointed out, playing the son of Poseidon card.

'You can create a bubble of air for me or something.' Annabeth countered immediately.

'But maintaining that might deplete my energy so I can't fight.' I added.

'But there'll be two of us so you'll be fighting fewer monsters anyway.' Annabeth was good at debates, I remembered dismally.

'You don't even have a weapon.'

'And where's Riptide?'

Proudly, I drew the pen in question out of my trunks (which I had made sure had pockets for this exact reason).

'Ok, but I still think I should come with you.' Annabeth pressed.

'Look, I'll need you for a distraction.' Annabeth's eyes flashed – she probably thought that I thought that she was too weak or something. 'If I don't resurface after, say, 10 minutes, you can come after me?' I added placatingly.

'Sure,' she begrudgingly agreed, 'but make sure you leave a trail of stones Hansel and Gretel style or I won't be able to find you.'

'Ok, ok. Distraction any time now would be good?' I said as I slipped beneath the waves.

* * *

Immediately my world was bathed in the familiar blue and greenish hues of the sea as I propelled myself to where the nearest cluster of vibrations I could sense – and therefore the nearest group of animals – were.

Without having to worry about the stupid 25 feet rule, it only took me a few seconds to reach them (and I was right – they were telekhines).

It only took a few taunts and the brandishing of Riptide (still in pen form) for the telekhines to notice me, and only a few more (plus threats) to render them terrified. What can I say, my reputation precedes me (or maybe telekhines just aren't the bravest. I'll go with the first if it's all the same to you).

I swiped through a couple of the nearer ones just to be safe and then just a few more (I couldn't have them wreaking havoc underwater), and then just a few more and before I knew it the two dozen telekhines were all reduced to golden powder. I guess they do say that you should always break problems into smaller parts.

When I returned to the surface, I subtly (I hope) rejoined the groups that were starting to go back to the shore. Annabeth seemed to have done a good job as all of the teachers were surrounding her and Ben seemed to be hovering anxiously by the group, along with the gaggle of Mortals who had only been paddling.

I thought I had gone unnoticed as I joined the throng around Annabeth, playing the 'concerned boyfriend'.

That was until Ben (who was to my left) asked me loudly (did I mention he had no concept of whispering or even talking at a normal level?): 'Where were you Percy? You were under the water for 8 minutes. How did you breathe? Why is there a pen in your swimming trunks pocket? Furthermore, how on earth did you spot so many animals? Where did you go when the rest of us were leaving the museum? Why do you randomly miss school sometimes?'

The entire group was silent, watching us.

I cursed his intelligence as I watched him join up the dots and ask 'Percy, are you a demigod?

* * *

 **A/N:  
Sorry about the cliff-hanger (well, not really) and the writing in this chapter. I was struck with mild Writer's Block.**

 **As always, please review, and thank you for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter 14 – I am interrogated_

* * *

 **A/N: Duke of Edinburgh expedition-ing is once again my only excuse – and a negligible one at that, so I'll shut up and get on with the story now…**

 **Disclaimer: I was procrastinating Maths homework when I wrote this, so allow me to use some simple maths to illustrate my point… Rick Riordan** **Me. Therefore, I don't own Percy Jackson in any way – don't sue.**

* * *

 _I cursed his intelligence as I watched him join up the dots and ask 'Percy, are you a demigod?_

My initial instinct was _deny, deny, deny._ Well, not really my initial instinct; my only instinct. Annabeth, lying 'unconscious' on the ground with her face blocked from view by the teacher's leg, was no help. So I went with my instinct:

'Um… no, of course not.' I said quickly, my voice slightly too high. I cleared my throat slightly and then added (at a more normal pitch) 'I mean, why on earth would you think that? I was just as surprised as anyone when the Greek gods revealed themselves.'

Well, the last part was true at least.

Ben looked at me sceptically and said 'yeah, well, just because you denied it doesn't mean you're not lying.' The class looked between me and Ben as if it were some sort of verbal ping-pong match.

'Why would I lie?' I retorted quickly. Ben looked at me incredulously for a few seconds as if surprised by my stupidity, which gave me an opportunity to check to see if Annabeth was frantically mouthing something (no) and then to try and come up with a plan on my own.

Which, was, you guessed it – to deny everything. See, I would have loved to tell the truth and all (and I know there's that proverb that 'truth always prevails' – or is it love? _Anyway…_ ) but we were kinda sorta on a quest and were kinda sorta not meant to reveal our identities.

In the time it took to conclude this oh-so-thorough plan-making session, Ben had let forth another verbal strike (it was less of a ping-pong match now and more of a battle, I decided):

'Because you want to protect your identity? We have concrete proof of the Greek gods, therefore there must be demigods. It would logically follow that there was some sort of haven for demigods – especially here in New York where most of the divine revealing took place. You live in New York, Percy.' I was about to interrupt and point out that millions of people live in New York but he continued before I could get a word out – 'now that wouldn't be proof on its own but there's lots more evidence – for example, the day we first started noticing strange things you were away. However, just after you returned – with Annabeth and Nico as well. Who, I postulate are also demigods.'

'I had tinnitus. Check the school records if you like. And it was a coincidence that Annabeth and Nico came around that time.' I replied, clutching at straws. I couldn't remember the excuse Paul had given at the time but tinnitus sounded plausible, I think. I'd have to ask him to change the records if I made it through this anyway.

'How about how you stayed under water for so long?' asked Ben. 'It indicates in source materials of the myths that certain demigods of a more powerful heritage had elevated powers. I believe you have a godly parent who is tied to the sea in some way – perhaps Hydros or Oceanus or Tethys or Triton or Poseidon or one of the Nereids or – well, any of the sea-based deities. That would also explain why the sea is unexpectedly in turmoil now.'

'It is?' I asked, not needing to fake confusing. I turned and looked at the sea – Ben was right, the waves were particularly big; either Poseidon was in a grump about something or (the more likely option being that) I was accidentally controlling it. 'Maybe Poseidon's annoyed. How should I know why?'

I waited until the class had dutifully turned away from the sea back to where Ben was standing, before calming it down a bit and returning to the conversation/battle. I thought it was dragging on a bit and hoped the mortals would start to lose interest but given my luck, I shouldn't have been so surprised to see that even the teachers were watching.

On the plus side that meant that I could get a view of a (now very much awake but that was probably only because no one else was watching) Annabeth, who was frantically mouthing something.

Something which I soon made out to be ' _over here you idiot_ '. While Ben let loose with another string of evidence and I wondered how many more excuses I could come up with before the truth came out, Annabeth continued with – ' _look, I'm in pain_ (or maybe that was Seaweed brain? I'm not entirely sure), _you're just going to get into a bigger mess if you carry on talking. I'll pretend to wake up now and hopefully distract your little audience. Then, let me do the talking.'_

I nodded at her, and remembered all too late that everyone was watching me nod at my 'unconscious' girlfriend. They all turned to her as she faked a very convincing 'I'm waking up after being unconscious' routine.

Thankfully this turned the attention away from me so I could sidle up to Ben and hiss 'look, Ben, if I – hypothetically, of course – _were_ a demigod would it even matter so much?'

'So you admit it?' asked Ben hopefully.

'I said _hypothetically_.' I reminded him shortly, thinking that this entire thing had gone on long enough (and just wanting to get away from here in general).

'Well… um… no I suppose.' Ben admitted grudgingly after a few seconds of thought.

Although this might not have been the most dramatic way of doing things (but hey, I wasn't the grand Drama King so it didn't really matter), I plucked up my courage and announced (quietly of course):  
'Ben, you were right. I'm a demigod.'

'So you are a demigod!' cried Ben triumphantly. Dutifully the class whirled round to stare at us at his (not so quiet) exclamation.

I tried very hard not to roll my eyes – and failed - (honestly, I was so done with this). I caught Annabeth from behind the mass of gasping classmates mirroring me.

 _Oh well, my secret was out._ I thought numbly. And then mentally added, _about time_.

As usual, I didn't really think of the consequences.

* * *

 **A/N:  
Apollo-gies (sorry, I couldn't resist. I'll fetch the brain bleach for you now shall I?) for that rather pathetic ending. This entire chapter was pretty rushed - but at least it's out and I have another fortnight of doing nothing productive regarding the story.**

 **I'd really appreciate it if you reviewed (I don't mind what with – if reviewing with your shopping list or flames is what it takes, then by all means go ahead) as then I know that people are actually bothering to read this.**

 **Thank you so much for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter 15 – I don't do_ _autographs._

* * *

 **A/N:  
I've accidentally managed to delete what vague plans I did have for this, so you'll have to deal with some waffley stuff, I'm afraid. Hey, at least this chapter's only… um… three days late *dodges rotten tomatoes*. **

**Annabeth and Percy may see** **m a bit out of character, but it's amazing what a couple of stressful minutes, a tiny little bit of hero-worship / recognition and a preoccupied writer (French and German oral exams are dangerously close) will do.**

 **Disclaimer: I can barely finish writing one chapter, what makes you think I would have the self-control or skill to churn out twenty books?**

* * *

Oh well, my secret was out. _I thought numbly. And then mentally added,_ about time _. As usual, I didn't really think of the consequences._

I had opened my mouth to agree loudly (after all, some of my classmates might have needed a little help verifying the statement), when the staff decided to finally intervene:

'Now, Benjamin, those are quite the accusations to be throwing around.' Mr Gregor intervened. Please note how he didn't actually mention this while I was desperately trying to deny it, but rather when it would be most inconvenient to me.

'Don't worry sir, he's right.' I interrupted. Annabeth rolled her eyes yet again in despair.

'I told you so!' cried Ben.

'Wait, really?' gasped several classmates.

'Freak!' yelled several others (lead by the unpleasant Petunia 'Tuna' Evans, who had had it out for me from the start).

'I don't believe you.'

'Attention seeker.'

'Cool!'

'Liar.'

'Is it true about ,insert rumour here?'

'Get it [I think they were talking about me?] away from me!'

(Accompanied with several screams and a lot of disgruntled mumbling).

The reactions were as varied as I had expected – though thankfully no one had tried to attack me with a pointy stick just yet.

I was a bit of a loss about what to do next (after all, I had just delivered an earth-shattering (ish) revelation, I wasn't about to just go back to the minibus and sit through another agonisingly long journey). Therefore, I decided to answer some of the questions that had just been directed at me (yes, okay, maybe I was basking in my new-found fame just a little bit, but you'll forgive a guy from enjoying some well-deserved appreciation, right?):

'Yes, my dad's Poseidon... No, my mother is normal… No, Mr Blofis is _not_ Poseidon… Why do you want to know the… well… _that_!?... Nope, I'm not immortal… and I am not Hercules reincarnated... My blood is not blue or any other weird colours… and no it doesn't have any magical properties [well I wasn't exactly going to tell them about the whole 'blood of Olympus'-Gaea-nosebleed malarkey was I?]… I _don't_ want to know why you think I'm having an affair with my uncle… And no, what would I sign an autograph with anyway?'

A piece of advice – never underestimate the twisted minds of teenagers these days.

'Is that all?' I asked exasperatedly (forget the basking in appreciation bit, this was very quickly becoming tortuous). The answer was a bit more grumbling so I decided to add 'Look, I'm no monster,' and to emphasise my point a bit, 'we spend most of our time _saving_ the world, why would I want to destroy it?'

Another piece of advice – never ask cynical teenagers rhetorical questions.

Annabeth had evidently been plotting something from her position at the back of the crowd, because just when I thought that I would have to somehow find myself an exit (a dramatic dive into the sea was looking surprisingly tempting), she stepped forwards.

Standing next to Fiona (a girl I probably haven't mentioned before, but renowned/feared throughout the year due to her fearlessness, especially when dealing with misogynistic and/or homophobic people. Wow, that sounded like a character description from a book review or something – but anyway, back to the point on hand) she said in a sort of extremely-loud fake-whisper 'Isn't it annoying when boys get all of the attention?'

I realised what she was planning (yeah, I know, too much time hanging around Cabin 6 does that to you) an instance before she added 'As if he needed any more hero-worship to fuel his ego.'

'People hero-worship him? Where? And how do you know?' Points go to Annabeth for picking an area to stage her 'whispered' conversation, with the most gossipy girls in close proximity.

'Oh at Camp we both go to, of course.' grinned Annabeth. 'It's not too far from here.'

She had fed them just enough clues for the muttering to break out again:

'Camp? Not too far from here? Wait, does she mean Camp Half-Blood?'

'The one with those orange T-shirt and swords guys?'

'Yeah. That means that Annabeth must be a demigod too!'

'Well Percy wasn't ever going to be able to get himself a normal girlfriend.' _Thanks,_ Fiona.

'But she's a demigod!'

'Ugh, does that mean they're related? Incest much!'

'Who's her parent then?'

Plus the 'freak!', 'impostor!', 'just as bad as your "boyfriend"' crap but we've already covered that.

Annabeth then smiled, a bit like a queen smiles when she's speaking to her subjects (I would say condescendingly but she looked too regal for that. And anyway, she would probably gut me if I said she looked condescending), and began to answer the questions directed at her.

I was slightly annoyed at how she managed to stay dignified and calm and collected through the whole idea – I'm pretty sure I was a mumbling, red-faced mess after that whole pretend-denial thing.

In the end, she managed to dispense her adoring/curious/disbelieving/scared-but-kind-of-intrigued crowd and announced to the teachers 'sorry, but I have a family emergency to sort out and I'll need Percy.'

There was more disgruntled muttering.

She then added (to me, but loudly so the whole class could hear): 'Ares' statue apparently is too 'Athenian'. He seems to be in danger of throwing a tantrum. Can you call for Blackjack?' The class promptly shut up in surprise.

* * *

And that was how we ended up flying back to New York City, complete with black pegasus and convenient cloud cover (just because we'd revealed ourselves to the class didn't mean that we wanted the whole city spotting us).

I noticed we were approaching the Empire State Building and asked 'Wait, you were serious? I thought it was just an excuse about Ares.'

I expect Annabeth rolled her eyes, but I couldn't see because she was behind me. 'No, Seaweed Brain. There were plenty of other ways that I could've got us out of the situation otherwise.'

'Oh.' I said, stupidly. 'But how did you know?'

'Two words: demigod dreams. More specifically, from an irritated Hephaestus. Apparently, Ares is blaming it on him.'

'But when?' As far as I knew, she hadn't been sleeping anytime recently.

'Well, how do you think I distracted them when you went off on your Telekhine-killing jaunt through the ocean?' I could almost feel the irritation (at my stupidity, no less) rolling off her in waves.

'Um… faking being unconscious?'

'No. They _are_ trained in First Aid, they probably would have been able to tell. I fainted. Deliberately. In the water. Would you like me to repeat that slowly, Kelp Head?'

'Right.' I said, understanding dawning on me.

'Any more stupid questions, Seaweed Brain?'

I suddenly had a flashback to our first quest together, when she had said almost exactly the same thing.

Inexplicably, I started laughing – so much had changed from back then, but Annabeth was still the same old Wise Girl she had always been.

* * *

 **A/N:  
Yeah…um… I don't exactly know where I was going in this chapter – beyond unnecessary waffle. Slightly cheesy ending there but eh, better than some of those sort-of cliffhangers? No? Oh well…**

 **Thank you so much for all of your reviews and support so far – and please continue to do so (in case you haven't gathered yet, it does mean an awful lot to me).**


	16. Chapter 16

_Chapter 16 – Boredom, Botany and Boulders_

* * *

 **A/N: Um… yeah… I don't even have an excuse for the chapter being late this time - I'm just extremely lazy. And yeah, I have no idea where the story's really going anymore but just bear with me, eh?**

 **Disclaimer: Yeah, my name is** _ **definitely**_ **Rick Riordan and I'm** _ **obviously**_ **52 years old with kids. That's why I'm still at secondary school on the other side of the Atlantic.**

* * *

 _Inexplicably, I started laughing – so much had changed from back then, but Annabeth was still the same old Wise Girl she had always been._

In fact, our visit to Olympus seemed relatively dull – Annabeth was whisked off by an exasperated Hephaestus to meet an irate Ares. The problem was apparently solved by chipping a few of the finer details off the statue and making Ares' nose more angular (as well as splashing on some 'blood' – read 'red paint'); not that I would know – I was left in the tranquil and beautiful but boring Eastern gardens.

Well, that was until one of the muses (I think it was Terpsichore) glared at me and said that I was 'ruining the mood'. I decided that it might be prudent to leave before I got attacked by a lyre or something so I started to wander around a bit.

Despite coming up to Olympus several times before, I'd never really had time to enjoy it – I'd pretty much always gone straight to the throne room (apart from that party after Artemis had been freed - but that was a _party_ ,so it wasn't like I was going to miss it to go exploring) so it came as no surprise when I realised that I was pretty much lost.

In a vague attempt at orienteering myself I noted that there was a crop of sun-themed buildings on my left (probably Apollo's) and an ethereal silvery temple a few hundred yards to my right (presumably Artemis'). I was in some sort of shady grove/garden thing with a couple of ash trees and some ominously-engraved stone benches. It seemed to be a dead end (besides, for Olympus at least, it was also pretty creepy) so I decided to retrace my steps in the hope that Annabeth would come by having resolved the Ares malarkey.

* * *

I was just turning around when I heard a cool female voice – one that I recognised as Hecate's - say 'Perseus, a word if you please.' It was phrased as a request, but I knew I didn't have much choice.

'Um…hello?' A fairly good start I thought, given we'd never properly met and I had no idea what sort of mood she was in.

'Perseus, _welcome_ to my sacred grove.' She raised an austere eyebrow and continued 'But since you _are_ here, I must tell you – you, and you alone, will soon be faced with a choice.'

'Right?'

'You will have three options. Remember, just as there is always more than one path at the crossroads, there is always more than one choice.' She was certainly being characteristically vague.

'Any other useful hints?' I asked hopefully, and then a sort of light bulb clicked. 'Hey, you're the goddess of the Mist aren't you? Can't you just bring it back to the Mortals?'

'Pure insolence.' She grumbled. 'It's a shame Poseidon wouldn't like it if you became a polecat.' My brain chose that moment to notice that there was a polecat at her feet and wondered whether that was someone else who had once angered Hecate.

'But why can't you?' I asked, not caring particularly whether she found me insolent or not.

'The Mist is not a simple veil that can be drawn back or forth by whim. While I have command over the Mist, as I'm sure you're aware the Mist is still intact – science has worked a way around this problem that I am… not at liberty to resolve.' I could have sworn I saw her blush slightly – so this was evidently a sensitive subject.

'So you mean that the power of the gods and science are incompatible? That you guys can't stop sciencey stuff?' I asked, trying to get to what she actually meant.

'No, foolish boy, it isn't like that. The science that has caused this problem was put in place clumsily by foolish Mortals who do not understand what they're doing. My ways with the Mist are more subtle and undetectable. It's like dropping a brick – or a boulder - at random in a stream. The boulder may block up the stream but that doesn't mean that the stream – which is infinitely more complex that the boulder - has any less power.'

I didn't understand entirely what she was getting at, so I just nodded and hoped for the best.

'The boulder is just a temporary problem to the stream in any case – the stream as a natural force will overcome it, but only if the stream continues to flow – if it ceases then the problem will not be solved. That is all you need to know, Perseus. Remember your options. It is your decision.' And with that, she dramatically swept away.

I was predominantly thankful that she had stopped with her boulder-stream analogy (I still didn't entirely understand the point she was getting at). However, there was also a lurking bit of unease – this impending 'choice-with-many-options' sounded a bit ominous and I still wasn't entirely sure what was going on (how did a boulder in a stream tell me what I need to know about this choice?)

* * *

As I began to retrace my steps, I resolved to tell Annabeth and see if she could make sense of it. While most of me felt relieved that I wouldn't have to try to dredge up a meaning from the at-best vague statements (and no, prolonged exposure to Shakespeare and trying to write essays on one metaphor has not helped me analytically in any way), there was a small part – the same part that had been enjoying all that recognition on Montauk beach – that disagreed: _after all,_ it whispered _you can't always just blindly rely on Annabeth. Do something for yourself for a change_. (Well, maybe not those words exactly but you know the sort of thing.)

In the end, the small whispery part of my brain won and I decided to try and figure out what Hecate meant while trying to find Annabeth – I could always just ask her later so I had nothing to lose.

I skimmed over what I remembered of her words until I got to _the boulder is just a temporary problem to the stream – the stream_ (something about natural forces? Kind of tuned out there) _will overcome it_. That sounded promising.

Then it struck me: the boulder – science; the epigenetics thingy – was _temporary_. I mentally slapped myself – she had literally _said_ that the problem wouldn't last. How could I have missed it? I was suddenly very glad I hadn't asked Annabeth for help – girlfriend or not, she would tease me mercilessly for overlooking something so obvious.

But that meant that the Mortals seeing through the Mist was only temporary, didn't it? That somehow their genes would revert to normal. Somehow I doubted that. Maybe it just meant that there was a solution to the problem – so that it would _become_ temporary.

I mentally sighed, and went on to the next bit – something along the lines of _It will only work if the stream keeps flowing. If it stops the problem won't be solved._ Hecate had made it sound like the stream was her power over the Mist, but maybe it was the Mist itself. But that didn't make any sense either – how would the Mist still 'flowing' somehow overcome a _genetic_ barrier making immortals immune? I didn't pretend to know all of the ins and outs of the explanation for the Mist immunity thing but that somehow seemed impossible.

But what was the choice? I was still pretty confused, so it was a relief that I had arrived back at the East Gardens by this point – Annabeth would be along any minute to come and explain it all to me, probably.

The Muses were settling into a concert, and several nymphs, spirits and minor gods were gathering around to watch. I decided that I might as well stay and enjoy it (OK, it was classical music but I'll take what I can get) – Annabeth would find me when she was ready so I might as well – but Terpsichore glared at me again so I sort of skulked around the rose beds for a while.

The next thing I knew, Annabeth was saying 'so you found the Sally roses then?'

'The Sally roses?' I asked, surprised. 'What?'

'These roses.' She said mock-patiently, indicating the patch of pinkish-yellow roses I had been staring at absent-mindedly. 'They're called Sally roses. And look-' here she indicated a clump of lilac-blue roses. '- these are marine roses, I think. Reflects your parentage pretty accurately, doesn't it?'

'Yeah, I guess. Maybe dad put them there.' I agreed, still slightly preoccupied.

'But anyway,' Annabeth began to pull me back to the exit from Olympus, 'you seem to have something on your mind.'

I took this as an opportunity to explain to her the whole thing.

After a few seconds of pondering she said 'well, it looks like we'll be successful then.'

'With what?'

'Well I didn't want to tell you in case it was all for nothing, but my cabin and I, we've been trying to develop a way to counteract the whole problem and remove the Mortals' immunity to the Mist. A sort of safeguarding, if you like – we haven't decided whether it would actually be used.'

'Right…?'

'Hecate was saying that the Mist-immunity won't last. That we'll probably be successful. For all we know, the 'stream' could have been referring to problem-solving or determination rather than the Mist itself.'

'And the choice?'

Again, Annabeth seemed to be thinking for a few seconds. 'That's more difficult, but I think I have an idea: if our work was going to be successful, we would have to choose whether to make use of it – restore the Mist to Mortals or not.'

Great. For whatever reason, Hecate had said that it would be my decision, my choice, my responsibility as to the Misty-fate of seven billion Mortals. Just brilliant.

* * *

 **A/N:  
I was nearly ready to upload this but then I had to go off to Cambridge (not the one in Massachusetts, the one in East Anglia) for a couple of days. My laptop's pretty massive so it wouldn't fit in any of the bags - so I had to leave it behind. At least, that's my excuse.**

 **Please don't ask me about that whole roses thing – basically my aunt was talking about botany to my brother while I was writing this so it kind of got incorporated.**

 **As always, thank you so much for reading, and do review and all that – you've probably gathered by now that it does mean a lot to me.**


	17. Chapter 17

_Chapter 17 – Thou Shalt Not Underestimate Homework_

* * *

 **A/N:  
Yeah… um… I'm still alive *attempts to dodge assorted flying missiles*.  
It seems that every single extended family member has some sort of anniversary this month and requires a family gathering party thing. Not that you care or anything, but that's my reason for not producing another chapter. Plus exams. **

**I'm pretty horrible at guessing, but I estimate that there might be around 4 more chapters left? No promises though. (Translation: I have no idea what I'm doing, so bear with).**

 **Disclaimer: It would be pretty pointless to write fanfiction about your own novels when you could just make it canon… From that we can conclude that I am most definitely not Rick Riordan and I don't own any of this.**

* * *

 _Great. For whatever reason, Hecate had said that it would be my decision, my choice, my responsibility as to the Misty-fate of seven billion Mortals. Just brilliant._

I'm going to skip a week or so forwards after that whole 'wait my classmate is actually a demigod!' and 'Percy you're going to have a big choice to make' thing.

It was a pretty boring week to be honest – I was… _taking a break…_ (read: hiding out at home) due to an 'unfortunate and unexpected case of measles' (read: to let all the gossip probably circulating school about me die down a bit). Soon enough there would be a new subject of gossip and no one would notice that neither me nor Annabeth had turned up at school the last week (she had gone back to camp to help the rest of her cabin try to cure the whole epigenetics thingy).

I probably would have stayed at home indefinitely (well, at least until Thanksgiving) if Paul hadn't sat me down and coerced me to go back to school. It was the whole 'I don't care if your dad's immortal and you don't think you'll live past 20, but I'm not going to allow you to fail Junior year' argument again. In the end I agreed – reluctantly – to return to school.

Remembering the last time I popped back to school unexpectedly, I had borrowed my mum's phone and decided to text Ben (who'd given me his number ages ago, and I'd managed to accidentally memorise it) to warn him of my impending return. Hopefully this time, he wouldn't alert the entire canteen to my presence.

* * *

Anyhow, I was back at school and remembering the pains of homework. Believe me, never underestimate a teacher's capacity to set unbelievable amounts of homework at the most awkward times. It's even worse when you haven't done it for some reason and you can't tell the teacher. Take a minute to imagine my situation:

 _Teacher: So,_ Percy _, why haven't you done your homework?_

 _Me: Well, Aphrodite lost her hairbrush and thought that a child of Hephaestus must have stolen it, because she and Hephaestus had argued the night before, so then I had to try to calm her down because Ares was too scared, and avert inter-deity war. I mean, I know that you're only just coming to terms with the existence of this whole world and you probably don't believe that I'm a demigod, but it's the truth. Honest._

Yeah…

Anyway, I digress. Truth be told, things were simmering back to normal. The government had issued some fairly misinformed leaflets explaining what to do when confronted with various beings of the mythological world; there were various new talk shows devoted to discussing said beings and the whole idea of it; and both presidential candidates had promised to add Ancient Greek and Classical History modules to the National Curriculum if they were elected, but other than that the world pretty much seemed to carry on as it did before.

* * *

It was a Thursday afternoon and I had just managed to escape the Biology classroom (we were dissecting fish today in Ms Marren's latest attempt to traumatise me). I'd been frantically swiping through a persistent Iris message all period before it could materialise, so it was a relief when I was finally alone and it could fizzle into existence without unnecessary drama. I made a mental note to try to find a more subtle means of communication for the future (would Walky-Talkies work?).

An Athena kid was standing by their Smartboard which was crowded with formulae (see, I do know how to conjugate nouns in the 1st declension in Latin, thank you very much). He seemed to be peering into the rainbow nervously.

I didn't recognise him so I waved awkwardly - and hoped he wasn't one of the Athena kids who are biased against me because of Dad.

'Percy!' he cried as soon as he noticed me. 'We've been trying to call you for ages!'

'Um…yeah… I was kind of in lessons. Why?'

'We wanted to let you know that we're pretty close to finding a solution...' he explained, his face lighting up with hope. 'We've got pretty much all the theory, we just need to construct something to distribute the sound waves and get the base code for that guy's subwave network so-'

He continued talking for a while but I wasn't really following. At last, he paused for breath and I took the opportunity to voice my query – 'that's great and all, but why are you telling me? Where's Annabeth?'

He may or may not rolled his eyes at that point. 'Annabeth said it was important that you knew – something about Hecate? And anyway, she was telling Chiron what I just told you and then I think she was going to work on sourcing the base code? You see, we know it's in the Expo company admin computer – I believe you're acquainted with the lead scientist's son, Rufus? – but, well… we all came to Camp Half Blood quite young and it's not exactly safe for us to use computers for intercomputer communication. And seeing as Annabeth's lost her laptop and they've got top security anyway…'

'You mean you can't hack into the admin computer?' I summed up.

'If you want to put it that way… It is harder than you think you know.' He grumbled. 'But you're in the Mortal world at the moment, can you help? Maybe there's someone you know?'

I must have looked taken aback – an Athena kid accepting that they needed help? Moreover, help from a Mortal. They must have been desperate.

'I guess I could ask Paul, but he's not exactly good at computers. Maybe my mom? I'll ask around.' I promised him (still not entirely sure what I was getting myself into. How did this base code or whatever relate to solving the problem anyway?)

He thanked me in an equally verbose manner before swiping through the connection and leaving me standing like a fool in the middle of a deserted hallway as the bell rang.

I had a new mission: find someone who could, and would be prepared to, hack a random computer. Oh, and would be prepared to keep it a secret and not require payment (no matter what Chiron says, the strawberry industry isn't very lucrative). No pressure then.

* * *

 **A/N:  
Well congratulations on persevering this far. I know not much happened this time but I'm easing myself (slowly) back into actually bothering to write.  
Thanks for reading, and do leave a review to tell me what you thought (the heat has sapped my ability to even ponder writing something attempting weak humour. I would **_**not**_ **survive in Texas.)**  
 **Thank you to all you amazing reviewers – you're all brilliant!**


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